Development of Community's railways (amend. Directive 91/440/EEC). Railway package

OBJECTIVE: the proposal for a directive forms part of a package of measures intended to ensure fair and non-discriminatory treatment of railway undertakings and the efficient use of infrastructure. It seeks to strengthen Directive 91/440 on the development of the Community's railways in order to improve the achievement of its objectives. SUBSTANCE: the main amendments proposed by the Commission seek to: - specify that there should be complete separation of accounts and separation of functions that determine access to the railway infrastructure; - establish that the infrastructure manager may be a public or private undertaking as well as a public body; - clarify that the separation of accounts between transport services and infrastructure management means separation of both profit and loss accounts and of balance sheets; - introduce greater transparency in the finances of passenger and freight transport services by requiring separate accounts for each of these areas; - ensure fair and non discriminatory access to infrastructure by entrusting safety regulation to bodies or undertakings that do not supply rail transport services themselves and are independent of bodies or undertakings doing so; - clarify that in the interests of efficiency infrastructure managers, like railway undertakings, should have a status independent of the State, should have business plans and should be free to manage their internal affairs. �