Report: The opening to competition of railways for passengers
The combination of the current budget constraint with the prospect of a full opening of the railway sector to competition , the growing demand of users for a better quality of service and the willingness of the state to further increase the modal share of road of iron in the movement of the French rail placed at a crucial moment in its development, which calls for decisions to transform the public authorities. This explains the many initiatives launched in 2011 to establish a shared diagnosis of the state railway and mature collective reflection on its future: States-General of Industry, parliamentary reports on the railway industry, the infrastructure transport and the opening to competition of the regional passenger transport, Focus on the rail ...
It is in this context that this report, prepared by a working group has met and auditioned for several months the experts of the railway and competition (academics, economists, union representatives, business leaders railway, transport authorities). This report aims to provide answers to questions posed by the prospect of a full opening to competition of rail transport announced by the European Commission for the future: what are the objectives of this opening? What are the potential benefits to the community but also the risks and limitations? What are the conditions for competition to be beneficial to the railway and for society?
It first outlines the current status of passenger transport in France and the challenges of opening up to competition , based especially on foreign examples. From this point of view, the situation of countries like Germany and Sweden shows that, under certain conditions, competition can bring many benefits to the community in terms of improved service quality, increased traffic and reduction of public funding.
He then studied the possible scenarios open to competition by distinguishing the situation of free services (TER trains balance of the territory) and business services (TGV and international routes) and seeks to assess the implications for community on the basis of theoretical modeling, but also more qualitative considerations fueled by hearings of the working group. It shows that the organization and preparation for the competition are necessary to enable France to draw all the possible benefits and that priority should be given to the gradual opening of the transport contracted in the form of experiments in the first place.
Finally, it addresses the requirements of a successful introduction of competition , including pricing and access to infrastructure and essential facilities, with the exception of the social question, already fully discussed in the report submitted to the Government by Senator Francis Grignon in May 2011.
In sum, the introduction of competition in passenger transport seems inevitable in the long term in the context of European integration. Rather than waiting for the release of binding European legislation, it seems preferable that France opened to competition, gradually, through experimentation, a number of railway lines in order to give everyone - customers and users , incumbent, new entrants, transport authorities, personal - time to adjust to these new conditions. To carry out such experiments, it is necessary to amend the Transportation Code and to define the technical, legal and social (in line with the report Grignon). An announcement by the Government in the coming months of a calendar of opening to competition of some of the trains balance of the territory (excluding long-distance trains TGV) but also the regional lines could serve as signal to all stakeholders and help initiate discussions for their definition.
Mission report chaired by Claude Abraham
Rapporteurs: Thomas Revial, François Vielliard
Coordinators: Dominique Auverlot, Christine Raynard
Press contact:
Jean-Michel Roullé, Head of Communications
Tel.: +33 (0) 1 42 75 61 37 - jean-michel.roulle@strategie.gouv.fr