SERAC

On 3 – 4 July, ECCO represented the Freight RUs at the 15th SERAC Working Group on Rail Freight Corridors, organised by the European Commission. Also present were representatives from the Rail Freight Corridor network and ministries. RUs presented the audience with what they are doing to improve the railway system to reach their ambitious goal of 30% market share by 2030. They highlighted the areas where they would like to cooperate with IMs, the Commission and national ministries to help them improve infrastructure and achieve a level playing field and harmonised regulation. The dialogue was constructive and fruitful. It was also a prelude to the start of the revision of Regulation (EU) No 913/2010.

3rd PRIME-RU Dialogue

The 3rd PRIME-RU Dialogue joint meeting on International Contingency Management (ICM) was held in Brussels on 17 June 2019.

UIC together with ERFA presented the progress made by the ECCO group for the RU ICM Handbook. The RU Handbook includes a checklist of the tasks to be performed in the event of a disruption. The work already achieved was well received by both Infrastructure Managers and the European Commission. Even if some topics still need to be addressed, the achievement of the Rail User sector speaking with one voice is a sign of an already fruitful cooperation and of more to come. The handbook will be published by the end of 2019 at the latest.

ECCO: the Working Group for Efficient Cross Corridor Organisation, is composed of representatives from Freight Railway Undertakings, to ensure coordination between RUs and the Rail Freight Corridors that cover Europe.