Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-12-Speech-1-091"
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"en.20010212.6.1-091"2
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"Mr President, in the run-up to the Parliamentary debate of 16 May last year, Mr Savary showed that modernisation, expansion and internationalisation of the railways is different from simply following a trend from the end of the last century. The trend emanated from a retiring government which is making itself redundant as a result of liberalisation and privatisation.
The rapporteur has made it clear that a modernisation policy need not conflict with the continued existence of state-owned or of justifiable exemption positions for areas which are separated from the rest of Europe by the sea. Much of what we resolved then has now been adopted by the Council. I congratulate the rapporteur on that outcome.
Unlike Mr Jarzembowski's proposals, my group endorses the result. I shall leave the technical details of the proposal to one side now and call attention to persistent problems. It is necessary to remain vigilant at all times for developments which continue to threaten the cohesion of the European rail network.
In the nineteenth century, different railway gauges and different types of rails prevented the railways from being able to operate as a European whole. In those days it was not just the individual countries but also the railway companies competing with each other that were to blame. Within the European Union, the Pyrenees still form a national border where the railway gauge has to be changed.
In the twentieth century, it was electrification and the associated safety systems which broke up the rail network once again. Where the steam locomotive could still travel over the border, as a consequence of a change in mains voltage henceforth the locomotive had to be changed. The threats of the twenty-first century reside in a combination of technical development and competition.
Until recently, it seemed that in Germany magnetic levitation technology would bring about divisions in the rail network once again. Only recently in the Netherlands such a line from Amsterdam-Lelystad-Groningen was still being considered, even now that it is no longer possible for it to continue via Bremen and Hamburg to Berlin. However interesting a number of aspects of the technology may be, in the short term it primarily means a system separated from the rest of the network. The interests of private companies which want to make their latest technology profitable should not be the deciding factor here.
In spite of European integration, we still see continuing disintegration of the railways. International railway regulations are becoming increasingly hard to obtain. Train tickets to distant destinations often have to be purchased outside the country of departure. Not so very long ago, you could take a passenger train straight from Cologne to Athens, from Paris to Lisbon or from Amsterdam to Copenhagen. Not any longer. Four months ago the direct night train from Stockholm to Berlin disappeared.
Apart from implementing technical measures, which is what this report is about, it is vital that an end is also put to the fragmentation of rail traffic. An end must also be put to the current situation in which the railways relegate passengers to aeroplanes and freight transport to lorries over long distances."@en1
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