3rd RNE Regulatory Bodies Meeting in Vienna

The annual Regulatory Bodies Meeting was held by RNE on 5 November 2009 in Vienna. Representatives of Regulatory Bodies of various Member States, the European Commission’s DG TREN and two European associations, CER and EIM, were invited to the meeting. The meeting was opened by Mrs Dagmar Haase, RNE Vice-President in charge of Marketing, Sales and External Relations.

The following points were on the agenda of the meeting:

• A Memorandum of Understanding between RNE and the Regulatory Bodies regarding the
  Pathfinder IT tool
• Information on Pathfinder
• European General Terms and Conditions
• Information Update on RNE Activities


Memorandum of Understanding

The MoU between RNE and the Regulatory Bodies is concerned with the Pathfinder web application – a communication and coordination system for international timetabling processes. The main issue resolved under the MoU is the forwarding of information to the RB(s) concerned in case of path request denial for the annual timetable. The MoU also affirms the commitment of RNE to informing the RBs on the future development of Pathfinder. The signing of the MoU on 5 November 2009 concluded a long period of development. This achievement was highly appreciated by the Regulatory Bodies, the European Commission’s DG TREN and the RNE representatives.



Information on Pathfinder

The Regulatory Bodies were informed about the latest developments in Pathfinder – in particular the new release, which will be launched in November 2009. The major improvement in this new release is the implementationof a harmonised and standardised workflow. Originally, the features currently available for placing path requests before and after the deadline of the 2nd Monday in April, and for feasibility studies, were designed as parallel workflows. The new release merges these procedures into one single workflow. In addition Pathfinder development has included the placement of path requests for the running timetable (‘ad-hoc requests’). These requests fulfil a long-standing desire of the freight Railway Undertakings linked to the short-term nature and volatility of railway freight traffic. Furthermore the inclusion of the MoU contents in the Pathfinder workflow was presented.


European General Terms and Conditions

Jean-François Ducoing, Chairman of the RNE Legal Matters Working Group, presented the current status and achievements in the area of the European GTC. Mr Ducoing stated that the aim of the European GTC is to simplify the contractual process and develop mutual understanding and solutions for all European IMs and RUs on contract issues and best practices. On 7 May 2008 a European GTC proposal for a common structure and common principles was finalised. However two issues remain open: financial consequences of path cancellations, and financial consequences of delays and disruptions. A possible solution was submitted to the CIT in June 2009; it proposed that the maximum amount of compensation for consequential damages would be limited to the amount of the access charges of the path concerned by the litigating case. At national level however, IMs and RUs may agree on amounts and conditions going beyond this principle. This proposal has not yet been formally ratified by the CIT. The CER stated that this was a major issue for them, whilst the EIM and EC DG TREN explained that they were not in favour of an additional law being introduced, because of already existing regulations embedded in national law. The CER replied that this issue is well regulated in the old EU Member States but that there is room for improvement in the new Member States. The discussion was concluded with a statement by DG TREN: a study on liability issues has been launched which will clarify the situation. The results of the study can be expected in spring 2010.


Information Update on RNE Activities

The information update touched on the following topics: Instant Capacity –Click &Ride Project, the future extension of the RNE Corridor Network to Turkey and the Glossary of railway network statement-related terms.
RNE explained that a concept is being developed which will offer the possibility to operate trains at short notice using instant capacity – this is the Click & Ride project. This approach reflects market needs, which are strongly shifting towards short-term planning. The concept builds on the transformation of optimized, existing path products into standardized products, a substantial shortening of response times for international paths, and the switch from the current demand-based to supply-based philosophy. The short-term emphasis goes hand in hand with the forthcoming introduction of TAF/TSI obligations, which will make the use of an IT application for short-term path requests mandatory. This project was highly appreciated by the EC’s DGTREN.
The new RNE Corridor 11 was then briefly presented. This Corridor will make use of the new Bosphorus Tunnel and extend the RNE Corridor Network to Turkey. The Corridor runs from its starting point in Munich through Salzburg, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Beograd and Sofia, with a further link to Istanbul.
Another RNE activity, the Glossary of network statement-related terms, is the next step after RNE’s harmonization of national Network Statement structures – the RNE Common Structure is already widely used as a template across Europe. In order to overcome the inconsistent use of network statement-related terms in the English translations of Network Statements, RNE has produced this glossary, which contains about 450 terms in its first version. The Glossary has been designed as an easy-to-use document and will be publicly available on the RNE website.
The main objective of this meeting is to harmonize cross-border timetables to find optimized solutions that fit the customers' needs best.