What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Change 2

Removed:SHORT JUSTIFICATION

Added:Recital 2: (2) The Communication on Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy15 sets out milestones to show the Union transport system’s path towards achieving the objectives of a sustainable, smart and resilient mobility. It envisages that rail freight traffic should increase by 50% by 2030 and double by 2050; traffic on high-speed rail should double by 2030 and triple by 2050 and scheduled collective travel under 500 km should be carbon-neutral by 2030 within the Union. To achieve these goals, rail transport must become more attractive in terms of affordability, reliability and accessibility, and services must be better adapted to the needs of travellers and freight shippers.

Removed:The Council position at first reading reflects the agreement reached between Parliament and the Council in interinstitutional negotiations at early second-reading stage. The agreed text has been the result of interinstitutional negotiations where the co-legislators have reached a compromise text aims to contribute to a more efficient use of Europe’s rail infrastructure through harmonisation of capacity management, more efficient allocation processes, and a strengthened cross-border cooperation. The agreement also foresees an enhanced role for European Network of Infrastructure Managers (ENIM) to coordinate cross-border capacity and traffic, while reinforcing the role of railway undertakings in capacity-related decision-making processes. To achieve a maximum utilisation of the available capacity on railway networks, penalties are introduced for railway undertakings and infrastructure managers in case of non-compliance with commitments with respect to allocated train paths.

Added:Recital 2 a (new): (2 a) The underlying aim of this Regulation is to increase the utilisation of the rail infrastructure and thereby increase the modal share of rail. However, this Regulation alone cannot address Union's decarbonisation and modal shift targets by. Both Member States and the Commission should continue to work on numerous other elements that can help to further increase both rail infrastructure capacity and transport capacity, such as the bundling of train paths, speed harmonisation, efficient passenger changeover, the use of longer trains with increased axle load, the roll-out of harmonised ERTMS across Europe, as well as automated trains operation.

Added:Recital 2 b (new): (2 b) Tackling the efficiency of rail in order to increase the multi-modal competitive aspect between different transport modes is important to facilitate a substantial modal shift and to reach the targets set in the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. Therefore, further measures to increase the competitiveness by rail, such as lower track access charges, should also be considered. With an increased demand for rail capacity by both passenger and freight services, investments will also be needed to realise those capacity enhancing measures.

Added:Recital 2 d (new): (2d) Shift-to-rail objectives on EU level require national targets based on concrete national plans developed by Member States following bottom-up approach.

Added:Without having national plans which are summed up to achieve the overall EU objectives, these objectives will remain just ambition without realistic concrete plans which can be monitored and modified if needed.

Added:Recital 5: (5) Rail infrastructure capacity management and rail traffic management are crucial to the well-functioning of the rail sector. The operation of rail transport services needs to be carefully planned and coordinated to allow trains with very different characteristics, such as speed and braking distance, to share safely the same tracks. Optimal management of capacity creates more opportunities for, and increases reliability of, rail services, which is a particularly important requirement for the increasing market of night trains as well as the ambitions to shift goods to rail freight. Regulation should provide infrastructure managers with sufficient flexibility for effective management of capacity while making sure that all railway undertakings are treated without discrimination in their access to the network.

Added:Recital 6: (6) Directive 2012/34/EU recognises the right of Member States not to apply the rules on rail infrastructure capacity allocation to certain parts of the rail network or to certain rail services, where such an exclusion from the scope of Union law would not affect the functioning of the single European railway area. These exclusions, while being strictly limited, should continue to apply and Member States should retain the right to request such exclusions in the future also in relation to this Regulation.

Added:Recital 7: (7) The rules and procedures on the management of rail infrastructure capacity should consider and satisfy the needs of all rail market segments in a non-discriminatory way. They should in particular take into account the necessity of long-term stability of available capacity for passenger services and of short-term flexibility for freight traffic to respond to market demand. Therefore, the process of managing capacity should no longer have a predominantly annual focus, but be arranged in three subsequent phases of strategic capacity planning; rail service scheduling and capacity allocation; and adaptation and rescheduling of capacity. The introduction of better defined and structured phases that provide for the possibility of long-term planning and short-term adaptation in capacity management, would particularly benefit services that are less easy to plan in advance or are more complex to arrange, such as freight trains and cross-border passenger trains, including night trains.

Added:Recital 8: (8) An increasing portion of the Union rail network is either congested or close to congested and cannot accommodate the needs for rail infrastructure capacity of all applicants and support further growth in the volume of rail transport. Infrastructure development and digitalisation, in compliance with the technical specification for interoperability developed under Directive (EU) 2016/797 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a, in particular the European Rail Traffic Management System (‘ERTMS’), is expected to result in an increase of available capacity in the medium to long term. Nevertheless, infrastructure managers will be required to assign priorities for the use of congested sections. Without prejudice to general principles on priority set out by Member States in the framework for the allocation of infrastructure capacity, infrastructure managers should take decisions on priorities using transparent and harmonised methodologies which clarify how social, economic and environmental factors have been taken into account and affect their decision. These socio-economic and environmental criteria should be based on accepted methods and best available knowledge. Therefore, the Commission should be empowered to adopt a delegated act setting out the procedures, criteria and methodologies. When preparing that delegated act, the Commission should cooperate with European Network of Infrastructure Managers (ENIM) and European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) established by Re…

Added:Recital 8 a (new): (8 a) Existing rail infrastructure capacity is not sufficient for reaching Union’s 2030 and 2050 shift-to-rail objectives. In fact, between 1990 and 2021 the railway network in the Union shrank by over 12,000 km. Achieving the Union's modal shift objectives primarily hinges on increasing rail efficiency and bolstering rail capacity, the latter necessitating investments for the maintenance, renewal and new construction of rail infrastructure. This includes leveraging national budgets, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a, and private investments to address crucial missing links and alleviate bottlenecks, as well as obtaining appropriate levels of funding for maintenance. In particular, Member States should prevent the degrading of rail infrastructure and should minimise the impact of possible capacity restrictions by ensuring adequate, stable and timely long-term funding via multiannual performance agreements that should be concluded between Member State and the infrastructure manager for the period of at least five years. / 1a Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1316/2013 and (EU) No 283/2014 (OJ L 249, 14.7.2021, p. 38).

Added:Recital 9: (9) The strategic planning of capacity should improve the utilisation of rail infrastructure by anticipating demand for rail services and taking into account planned infrastructure development, renewal and maintenance. It should ensure that rail infrastructure capacity is allocated in a way that maximises the value of rail services for society taking into account socio-economic and environmental impacts. Infrastructure managers should ensure that strategic planning provides progressively increasing level of details about available capacity and that it is the basis for the capacity allocation. Applicants, European Railway Platform (ERP), customers of rail transport services and their associations, Union and national public authorities should be consulted during the strategic planning, and they should have an opportunity to provide input on study “the Analysis of expected transport market developments as referred to in Article 15” and to offer independent comments on the findings

Added:Recital 11: (11) When allocating capacity, infrastructure managers should adhere to the strategic plans for the supply of capacity and at the same time ensure that capacity is allocated in accordance with market demand in a fair and non-discriminatory way. For that purpose, some capacity requests may be offered alternative capacity or, if no other possibility exists, refused and the plan for the supply of capacity must be regularly updated to reflect the actual demand.

Added:Recital 11 a (new): (11 a) In several national rail markets, the infrastructure manager is part of a vertically integrated holding company with one or more passenger and freight transport operators. While allocating capacity to these rail undertakings, it is of the upmost importance for the proper functioning of the market that capacity is allocated in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory way. In particular, sensitive information shared with the infrastructure manager as part of the capacity allocation process should be considered as confidential.

Added:Recital 12: (12) Different rail market segments have different abilities to anticipate their rail infrastructure capacity needs. Some freight service providers, in particular, may not be able to identify their capacity needs in time to be included in the working timetable, which is in the annual plan for train and rolling-stock movement, and may not fit in its annual schedule. Therefore, infrastructure managers should be able to offer capacity of sufficient quality and quantity also for rail services that have unstable demand, are organised on relatively short notice, include more than a single train run, and may run repeatedly for a period of time that may not coincide with the duration of the working timetable period. This type of capacity offer could also be offered in a package of minimum pre-calculated unreserved train paths that can then be allocated at short notice.

Added:Recital 12 a (new): (12 a) Different practises for timetable planning are used in Member States and these concepts should be taken into account in the strategic capacity planning. These practises require increased coordination between infrastructure managers across borders, in particular when the infrastructure manager pre-plan capacity by using integrated clock-face timetables.

Added:Recital 14: (14) A significant share of rail freight transport is long-distance and requires cross-border coordination of infrastructure managers. The policy goal of increasing rail traffic also relies on growing cross-border passenger services. To facilitate and promote an increasing cross-border traffic in the single European railway area, it is necessary to ensure greater consistency and harmonisation of the rules and procedures on the management of rail infrastructure capacity. Accordingly, the role of the European Network of Infrastructure Manager should be strengthened with a view to entrusting it with the development of guidelines for the harmonised implementation of this Regulation on procedures and methodologies for the management of rail infrastructure capacity and with the active coordination of cross-border capacity and traffic. In particular, the European Network of Infrastructure Managers should develop European frameworks for capacity management, for the coordination of cross-border traffic management, disruption management and crisis management, and for performance review. Railway undertakings, applicants and other operational stakeholders should also be consulted in the development of these European frameworks.

Added:Recital 15: (15) The European frameworks developed by the European Network of Infrastructure Manager should provide guidelines that infrastructure manager should make the utmost efforts to follow, while retaining responsibility for their operational decisions. Infrastructure managers should justify any deviation from the frameworks developed by European Network of Infrastructure Manager, which should only be allowed in exceptional cases and be subject to approval by the national rail regulatory body. This approach is considered to strike the balance between the needs of coordination and application of harmonised approaches in the single European railway area, and the need for adapting procedures and methodologies to the specific circumstances of given geographical areas. After five years of application of this Regulation, the Commission should assess whether the state of convergence of procedures and methodologies and the effectiveness of the coordination process between infrastructure managers, as well as the general progress towards the establishment of the single European railway area, warrant the introduction of secondary legislation to replace elements the European frameworks developed by the European Network of Infrastructure Managers.

Added:Recital 15 a (new): (15 a) To ensure a seamless European rail network and to enhance cross-border and multi-network rail traffic for both freight and passenger transport, new tasks should be assigned to the ERA. ERA should cooperate closely with ENIM and the Network Coordinator in the delivery of its new tasks.

Added:Recital 15 b (new): (15 b) ERA's resources are insufficient given the extent of the proposed increase in the Agency's tasks and the scale of the Union's ambitions within this Regulation. Thus, the amount of the financial resources dedicated to the performance of ERA tasks under this Regulation should be drawn from the unallocated margins under Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) ceilings or mobilised through the non-thematic MFF special instruments. Since the Commission proposal for MFF revision did not reinforce ERA budget, the increase in appropriations for ERA cannot be offset by a compensatory reduction of programmed spending under CEF Transport or lead to a reduction of the funding for any other Union programmes.

Added:Recital 17: (17) The operation of railway infrastructure not only requires close cooperation between infrastructure managers, but also a strong interaction with railway undertakings and other stakeholders directly involved in rail and multimodal transport and logistic operations. Therefore, it is necessary to provide for structured coordination between infrastructure managers and other stakeholders. To strengthen the role of Railway Undertakings and applicants, ERP is established as a consultative body to ENIM. Operators of service facilities and terminals, multimodal capacity stakeholder, such as sea and inland waterway ports and owners of other rail-related service facilities, might also be part of ERP. ENIM should consult ERP before preparing adoption of the European frameworks for Capacity Management, Traffic Management and Performance Management. Furthermore, ERP could provide ENIM with a closer view on market developments and it could also issue own initiative opinions on any proposals or decisions by ENIM and ERA.

Added:Recital 18: (18) Reliability of rail services is one of the aspects most valued by railway customers, and not least a critical requirement of the re-emerging night train market, where rail customers and applicants need to know well in advance how their services can run. Reliability of schedules is also a critical aspect for the smooth functioning of the rail system, where there are strong interactions between services and network externalities. For that reason, deviations from the schedule should be kept to the minimum. Additionally, a system of adequate incentives should be introduced to promote the fulfilment of commitments by infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, operators of service facilities and other relevant stakeholders. Those incentives should be both of economic and non-economic nature.

Added:Recital 19: (19) Continuous monitoring of the quality of rail infrastructure and transport services is a precondition for improving the performance of these services. Therefore, infrastructure managers should monitor and benchmark the performance of rail infrastructure services and rail transport services. Infrastructure managers, when setting out their own performance targets in the plan, should consult the national regulators, national ministries and the Commission in order to ensure that those targets are consistent with the Union performance targets. It is also necessary to establish a transparent and objective system of indicators that provides feedback on aspects of performance that are relevant for the different operational stakeholders and for the end customers of rail transport services. The main function of that a system should focus on monitoring the fulfilment of commitments made by the operational stakeholders and progress in performance over time while taking into account different circumstances and characteristics within the rail sector. For the establishment of such a system and the analysis of its output, the Commission and ERA should be able to rely on independent experts with a profound knowledge of the railway sector in the form of a Performance Review Body. This body should be able to provide independent expert advice to the Commission and ERA in all areas that influence the performance of rail services and infrastructure management.

Added:Recital 20: (20) To improve the performance of rail infrastructure services in the single European railway area, the infrastructure managers, in close cooperation with the Commission, ERA, the Performance Review Body and relevant stakeholders, should implement a common framework for the review of performance. This framework should ensure that all EU infrastructure managers use common principles and methodologies for measuring performance through agreed indicators. The framework should allow for identifying performance deficiencies on the EU railway network. It should ensure that infrastructure managers set performance objectives in a way that takes into account the specificities of the network they manage, but at the same time ensures coherency in identifying the most relevant performance deficiencies. The framework should allow infrastructure managers to cooperate at EU level, including within ERA in identifying measures to address performance deficiencies and to keep track of their impact. Infrastructure managers, working together with ERA in the European Network for Infrastructure Managers and taking into account the opinion of the Performance Review Body and the Commission, should review this framework regularly to ensure that it is fit for purpose.

Added:Recital 22: (22) The rail regulatory bodies should cooperate at Union level to ensure coherent application of the regulatory framework and consistent treatment of applicants across the single European railway area. They should do so through the European Network of Rail Regulatory Bodies (ENRRB), with a view to develop common practices for making the decisions for which they are empowered under this Regulation. For that purpose, ENRRB should perform coordination tasks and adopt non-binding recommendations and opinions, which should not affect the competences of the rail regulatory bodies or those of the infrastructure managers. ENRRB should verify the compatibility of the European frameworks, with the regulatory objectives of the Regulation. Regulatory supervision should be designed in such a way so as to prevent national decisions to undermine the harmonised procedures described in the European frameworks, unless otherwise provided for in this Regulation.

Added:Recital 23: (23) Efficient management of rail capacity and traffic requires exchange of data and information between infrastructure managers, applicants and other operational stakeholders. This exchange can be considerably more effective and efficient with the support of interoperable digital tools and, where possible, automation. Specifications for interoperability should therefore be implemented as a matter of priority and further developed to keep up with technological developments and the new processes put forward in this Regulation. In order to ensure a swift development and implementation, the Commission should be empowered to adopt a delegated act for the implementation and governance of an integrated digital European rail traffic management. As ERA is the European system authority for telematics applications, it should be closely involved in the development and implementation of the digital tools referred to in Article 62 of this Regulation to ensure that they are compliant with the TSI for telematics applications as defined in Directive (EU)2016/797 and in accordance with Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2016/796.

Added:Recital 23 a (new): (23 a) Workers are crucial for the efficient functioning of the railway sector. For services to become more efficient and in order to increase their quality, digitalisation is essential. The digitalisation and automatisation of rail capacity and traffic management need to be accompanied by digital skill development for the sector’s employees. Additional training and investment in the extension of digital competencies with respect to new digital requirements is to enable workers to adapt and positively contribute to the well-functioning of the sector through enhanced communication and capacity to deal with unexpected events.

Added:Recital 29: (29) The ex-post evaluation of Regulation (EU) No 913/201020 concluded that the Regulation’s impact was too limited to contribute to a modal shift from road to rail. Moreover, the cooperation between Member States and infrastructure managers in the management of the rail infrastructure was still ineffective from a cross-border perspective. The evaluation has also shown that managing separately the capacity on the rail freight corridors and on the rest of the network is not efficient. A single regulatory framework should apply to the operation of rail network capacity, consolidating the related provisions in Directive 2012/34/EU and of Regulation (EU) No 913/2010. Therefore, Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 and the provisions in Directive 2012/34/EU on capacity allocation should be repealed and replaced by this Regulation. Relevant Articles of Regulation 1315/2013 on Union Guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network should be amended accordingly.

Added:Recital 29 a (new): (29a) Similarly, alignment should be ensured with the following implementing regulations, for the allocation rules in service facilities (implementing regulation 2017/2177) and for procedures and criteria concerning framework agreements (implementing regulation 2016/545).

Added:Recital 30: (30) The preparation of the working timetable requires preparatory activities to be carried out in the years preceding the entry into force of the said working timetable. Therefore, the transition from the regulatory framework established by Directive 2012/34/EU and Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 to the one established by this Regulation implies that preparations for working timetables under the new framework should begin in parallel to the application of rules under the current framework. Accordingly, a dual regime must apply in a transition phase whereby necessary preparatory steps for a given timetable should comply with the legal framework applicable to that specific working timetable. Framework agreements concluded under the current framework should have the possibility to continue until the end of their contract.

Added:Recital 31: (31) Under the new framework, the preparatory steps for a working timetable should begin with the publication of a capacity strategy five years before the entry into force of a given working timetable. In the interest of an early application of the new regulatory framework and taking into account the preparatory work already undertaken by the sector, the schedule of activities leading to the establishment of the first two working timetables could be shortened to 38 months by abbreviating the phase of the capacity strategy. Accordingly, the first working timetable falling under the new regulatory framework should be the working timetable starting on [9 December 2029]. All stakeholders should start the necessary preparations without delay with a view to comply with the new framework. An earlier application date could be considered by Member States that are able to prove that they have carried out all the necessary steps before the adoption date of the Regulation.

Added:Article 1 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1 a. This Regulation also lays down rules and procedures for the implementation of an integrated digital European rail traffic management system

Added:Article 1 – paragraph 2: 2. This Regulation applies to the Union rail system defined in Article 2(1) of Directive (EU) 2016/797, the use of railway infrastructure for domestic and international rail services referred to in Article 1(2) of Directive 2012/34/EU, including service facilities as defined in Article 3(11) of that Directive.

Added:Article 1 – paragraph 3: 3. Chapters II to V of this Regulation shall not apply to rail infrastructure or railway services that are excluded from the application of Chapter IV of Directive 2012/34/EU in accordance with Article 2(3), (3a), (4), (8), (8a), (9) and (10) of that Directive during the period of validity of the relevant exclusions.

Added:Article 2 – paragraph 3 – point a: (a) make optimum effective use of the available infrastructure capacity as required in Article 26 of Directive 2012/34/EU with the aim of increasing the share of rail transport, both for passenger and freight services in accordance with Union’s climate targets;

Added:Article 2 – paragraph 3 – point d: (d) enable seamless and punctual rail traffic across more than one network and across borders by striving to eliminate bottlenecks and operational obstacles;

Added:Article 2 – paragraph 3 – point f: (f) review and improve the performance of rail infrastructure and transport services in close cooperation with rail sector operators, including service facilities that are directly involved in a railway service;

Added:Article 2 – paragraph 3 – point g: (g) contribute to the implementation and development of the single European railway area, in particular through common European technical and operational rules and standards, technical equipment requirements and staff certification.

Added:Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point 1: (1) ‘force majeure’ means any unforeseeable, unavoidable or exceptional event or situation beyond the control of the infrastructure manager, the railway undertaking or the applicant, which cannot be overcome with reasonable foresight and diligence, cannot be solved by measures which are from a technical, financial or economic point of view reasonably possible including re-routing across borders; this event must have actually happened and needs to be objectively verifiable and which makes it impossible for the infrastructure manager to fulfil, temporarily or permanently, its obligations in accordance with this Regulation or Directive 2012/34/EU or for the railway undertaking to meets its contractual obligations towards an infrastructure manager or managers;

Added:Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point 2 a (new): (2 a) ‘applicant’ means railway undertaking or an international grouping of railway undertakings or other persons or legal entities, such as competent authorities as defined in Article 2(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council1aand shippers, freight forwarders and combined transport operators, with a public-service or commercial interest in procuring infrastructure capacity; / 1a Regulation (ec) no 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on public passenger transport services by rail and by road and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) Nos 1191/69 and 1107/70 (OJ L 315 3.12.2007, p. 1).

Added:Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point 3: (3) ‘operational stakeholder’ means an applicant association of applicants, infrastructure manager, operator of service facility, provider of rail-related services and any other entity directly involved in operating a rail transport service;

Added:Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point 17 a (new): (17 a) systematic train paths’means train paths that are based on Articles 11 and 20 of this Regulation, pre-planned in a regular schedule for the period of a working time table,

Added:Article 6 – paragraph 1: 1. Infrastructure managers shall strive to follow common principles and procedures for the management of rail infrastructure capacity. For this purpose, ENIM shall develop in consultation with ERP and adopt a ‘European framework for capacity management’ in accordance with Chapter II by …[12 months of the entry into force of this Regulation].

Added:Article 6 – paragraph 4: 4. Infrastructure managers shall take the utmost account of the European framework for capacity management when preparing the network statement referred to in Article 27 of Directive 2012/34/EU, in particular the contents specified in Annex IV of this Regulation. They shall justify in the network statement the reason for any deviation from the common principles and procedures established in the European framework for capacity management. Deviations shall only be allowed in exceptional cases and they shall be subject to approval by the national rail regulatory body.

Added:Article 6 – paragraph 4 a (new): 4 a. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 71 to set out the common principles and procedures for the management of rail infrastructure capacity and to amend paragraph 2 of this Article Those delegated acts shall be adopted by ... [24 months of the entry into force of this Regulation].

Added:Article 7 – paragraph 1: 1. Applicants shall make requests for infrastructure capacity. In order to use such infrastructure capacity, applicants, who are not a railway undertaking shall appoint a railway undertaking to conclude an agreement with the infrastructure manager in accordance with Article 28 of Directive 2012/34/EU. This is without prejudice to the right of applicants to conclude framework agreements with infrastructure managers under Article 31 of this Regulation.

Added:Article 7 – paragraph 2: 2. The infrastructure manager shall set requirements with regard to applicants to ensure that its legitimate expectations about future revenues and utilisation of the infrastructure are safeguarded. Such requirements shall be appropriate, transparent and non-discriminatory. They shall be specified in the network statement as referred to in point (2)(c) of Annex IV. They may only include the provision of a financial guarantee that shall not exceed an appropriate level which shall be proportional to the contemplated level of activity of the applicant, and assurance of the capability to prepare compliant bids for infrastructure capacity.

Added:Article 7 – paragraph 3: 3. The Commission shall, by [24 months after the entry into force of this Regulation], adopt implementing acts to set out the details of the criteria to be followed for the application of paragraph 2 and to amend paragraph 2. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 72(3).

Added:Article 8 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2: Without prejudice to State aid rules, Member States shall, where appropriate, grant the infrastructure manager compensation corresponding to losses of revenue related exclusively to the need to comply with the strategic guidance regarding the use of rail infrastructure capacity.

Added:Article 8 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2 – introductory part: Those procedures shall assess alternative options for the use of infrastructure capacity, based on the following socioeconomic and environmental criteria, subject to the availability of standardised data made available by the applicants shall make available to the infrastructure managers. The criteria shall include but shall not be limited to:

Added:Article 8 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2 – point c: (c) connectivity and accessibility, both as a network effect on the overall network and network segments, for people and regions served by the rail transport services;

Added:Article 8 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2 – point e a (new): (e a) modal shift effects towards rail.

Added:Article 8 – paragraph 5 – introductory part: 5. ENIM shall, in consultation with ERP prepare and adopt the procedures referred to in paragraph 4 and include them in the European framework for capacity management referred to in Article 6. The procedures shall involve the following steps:

Added:Article 8 – paragraph 5 – point a: (a) design alternative scenarios to partition the capacity available for every different type of rail transport services that apply for the same capacity, involving, where possible, the provision of alternative capacity on other routes or alternative timing with comparable characteristics both for domestic and cross-border services;

Added:Article 8 – paragraph 5 – point a a (new): (a a) design alternative scenarios to address capacity conflicts between two requests that both are not consistent with the strategic capacity planning;

Added:Article 8 – paragraph 6: 6. ENIM shall, in consultation with ERP, develop the methodologies referred to in paragraph 5, point (b), of this Article. The parameters of those methodologies shall make it possible to take into account local or national circumstances based on accepted approaches and empirical evidence. ENIM shall include those methodologies in the European framework for capacity management referred to in Article 6.

Added:Article 8 – paragraph 7: 7. Taking into account experiences with the preparation and implementation of the framework referred to in paragraph 6, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt, delegated acts in accordance with Article 71 to set out the specific procedures, standardised data reflecting different market segments for the criteria and standardised methodologies to be applied for the management of scarce capacity and to amend paragraph 6 of this Article. Those delegated acts shall be adopted by ... [24 months of the entry into force of this Regulation]. They shall be included in the European framework for capacity management.

Added:Article 9 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1: Infrastructure managers shall provide interested parties, in particular applicants, potential applicants and regulatory bodies, with accurate and up-to-date information on the availability of infrastructure capacity throughout the entire capacity management process, including in the strategic planning phase referred to in section 2, during the scheduling and allocation processes set out in section 3 and whenever there are changes to allocated capacity as referred to in section 4, depending on the availability of the published capacity strategy, capacity model and capacity supply plan.

Added:Article 9 – paragraph 3: 3. At the request of applicants, infrastructure managers shall provide the information referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article on the basis of concrete specifications of commercial and operational needs (‘feasibility assessments’). For cross-border services, infrastructure managers shall receive and answer to such requests in a single place and single operation or via a single interface established in accordance with Article 27 (4).