To: Stakeholders/Passenger and Freight Rail
Operators
Lisbon, January 28, 2021
Dear Sirs
Subject: Railway
connections between Portugal and Central Europe, for passengers and goods
As members of a group
of businessmen, technicians and academics, we are concerned about the state of
Portugal's rail connections to Europe and the lack of reliable planning for the
implementation of the Portuguese component for mixed traffic of the TEN-T
trans-European network, according to regulation 1315/2013 (with the aim of its completion in 2030: North
Atlantic Corridor: port of Aveiro-Salamanca; South Atlantic Corridor: port of
Sines / Lisbon-Badajoz-Madrid; coastal link: port of Sines-Lisbon-Porto-port of
Leixões).
At a time when the EU
is preparing for post-pandemic recovery, when the relevance of the “Green Deal”
and the “Sustainable and smart mobility strategy” is unanimously recognized,
when the year 2021 was declared an international year of the railway, and for our
country is essential to increase exports, we think that it is also in your
interest, as operators of transport of passengers or goods, to be able to
access the Portuguese network in conditions of full interoperability as part of
the single railway space, in the precise terms of the Fourth Railway Package of 2016 [1] and Directive 2370/2016 [2].
Unfortunately, the
required interoperability conditions do not exist today, given that the
existing network was built with Iberian gauge (1668 mm) and the Portuguese
government has no plans for the construction of new sections in European or UIC
gauge (1435 mm) until 2030 nor after that date. We alerted the European
Commission to this issue in several letters [3], confirming the situation
with official documents and statements by members of the Government.
We are also concerned
that the European Commission assumes that after 2030 the Portuguese lines of
the EU Core Network will migrate from the Iberian gauge to the European gauge
easily, as if they were normal railway maintenance and modernization works. This
is not possible given the long periods of disruption of train traffic that
requires the transition of the gauge on polyvalent sleepers, as based on our
4th letter (2020-12-09) to the Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean. This situation will entail decades of delay
and cost increases, avoidable if the European gauge is introduced now in the
construction of the Atlantic Corridor new lines.
80% of imports and exports (in value) are done by
road.
In 2019, the value of
Portuguese exports of goods to Europe was:
by sea 9 billion euros ( 9.7
million tons)
by road
36 billion euros ( 16.8
million tons)
by rail 540
million euros ( 0.2 million tons) (and only for Spain).
In 2020, under the effects
of the pandemic, in the first 11 months of the year the value of exports by all
modes to the whole of Germany and France was 12,664 million euros, while for
Spain it was 12,565 million euros.
These indicators show
that compliance with the Community directive (regulation 1316/2013) for
transferring 30% of the road load above 300 km to the least polluting sea and
rail modes requires intense work, and that is very important the integration of
the Atlantic Corridor into the EU's unique rail system. To minimize the
negative consequences of this transfer for road operators and their employees,
it will be imperative to develop solutions for transporting trucks or
semi-trailers in wagons (railway motorways).
The high-speed
component of the South Atlantic Corridor (between Lisbon and Madrid) also finds
its justification in the substitution of air travel up to 800 km for
environmental reasons.
In terms of operating
efficiency, and satisfying the requirements of the interoperability 4th pillar for
national rules suppression, interoperability solutions on the infrastructure
side (new lines in UIC gauge, ERTMS, 25 kVAC and train length of 740
m ) lead to more competitive solutions than complementary or transient systems
such variable axles, or even multipurpose sleepers.
Even though these
systems may be useful during the transition phase, they are not good permanent
solutions, as they are impeding until 2030 and at normal costs the access of
existing and planned European trains to the Portuguese rail network, with the
consequent lack of international competition.
As mentioned in our
1st letter to the Commissioner for Transport (2020-07-29) the motivation of the
Portuguese government for these policies is the protection of Portuguese rail operators from international competition [4], but this is illegal
under the EU Treaties and contradicts the successive statements by European transport ministers in
2016 [5] and 2020 [6].
For these reasons, we
consider that it could be very useful your pressure on European Commission DG
MOVE to persuade the Portuguese government to change its policy of exclusivity
of the Iberian gauge and not planning the UIC gauge.
The positive result
that we wish from your diligence with the Commission, if you undertake it,
would be the elaboration by the Portuguese Government of the projects,
immediately followed by the construction, of the new lines of the Atlantic
Corridor in European gauge (UIC gauge), as required by the EU regulation
1315/2013. This should be a necessary
condition for access to EU co-financing, in particular CEF. The technical characteristics, financing,
coordination and construction timings of the international lines of the
Atlantic Corridor should be the subject of tripartite Portugal-Spain-European
Commission agreements.
Awaiting your
comments,
Best regards
Fernando
Mendes fernandomendes.fernandomendes@gmail.com
F.Santos e Silva santos.silva45@hotmail.com
Henrique
Neto henriquejosesousaneto@gmail.com
L.Cabral da
Silva luis.c.silva.01@gmail.com
L.Mira Amaral lmiraamaral@gmail.com
Mario Lopes mariolopes@tecnico.ulisboa.pt
Mario Ribeiro marioribeiro99@zonmail.pt
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