Management of railway infrastructure - national and European comparative analysis

• Author: Adriana Elena Belu
• Position: PhD student at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Lawyer in Dolj Bar Association, adyelenabelu@yahoo.com.
• Pages: 126-132

Management of railway infrastructure - national and European

comparative analysis

Ph.D. student Adriana Elena BELU1

Abstract

On November 1 2, 2016, in Romania the La w no. 202/2016 on the integr ation of

the Romanian railway system into the single Europea n railway a rea come into force after

the 2012/34/EU Directive of the Europea n Par liament and of the Council of 21 November

2012 on the establishment of the single European railway a rea was adopted in 2012. It is

later adopted in Stra sbourg on 18 April 2018 and will enter into force on 02.05.2018 The

Regulation 643/2018 on ra il tra nsport sta tistics. Statistics on freight and passenger ra il

transpor t are needed to enable the Commission to oversee and develop the common

transpor t policy as well as the transpo rt elements of policies on trans-Eur opean r egions

and networks. Under Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament a nd of the Council

of 29 April 2004 on safety on the Community's railways, ea ch Member State of the

Europea n Union must establish a national safety authority. In Romania, the Romanian

Railway Safety Authority - ASFR2, was set up as a national b ody r esponsible for the tasks

related to railway safety.

Keywords: railway infra structure, Community's railways, European railway area, trans-

Europea n regions and networks, railway safety.

JEL Classification: K23, K33

1. Introduction

In order to continue the efforts to establish a single market for rail transport

services, initiated by Council Directive 91/440/EC of 29 July 1991 on the

development of the Community's railways, it was necessary to establish a common

regulatory framework for railway safety. To date, Member States have developed

safety standards and standards mainly at national level, based on national technical

and operational concepts. At the same time, differences in principles, approach and

culture have made it difficult to overcome technical barriers and carry out

international transport operations.

All those operating the railway system, the IM3/RU4, should be fully

accountable for system security, each for its own part and cooperate in the

implementation of risk control measures. Member States should make a clear

distinction between this immediate responsibility for the safety and the task of

NSA5s to provide a national regulatory and performance control framework for

operators.

1 Adriana Elena Belu - PhD student at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Lawyer in Dolj

Bar Association, adyelenabelu@yahoo.com.

2 By Law no. 55/2006 of 16/03/2006 on railway safety (transposing Directive 2004/49/EC).

3 IM – Infrastructure managers.

4 RU – Railway operators.

5 ANS – Autoritatea Naionala de Siguran (National Safety Authority).