Directive 2004/49 - Safety on the EC's railways and amending Council Directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings and Directive 2001/14/EC on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification (Railway Safety Directive) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 164/44

In order to pursue efforts to establish a single market for rail transport services, initiated by Council Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community's railways (5), it is necessary to establish a common regulatory framework for railway safety. Member States have until now developed their safety rules and standards mainly on national lines, based on national technical and operational concepts. Simultaneously, differences in principles, approach and culture have made it difficult to break through the technical barriers and establish international transport operations.

Directive 91/440/EEC, Council Directive 95/18/EC of 19 June 1995 on the licensing of railway undertakings (6) and Directive 2001/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification (7) provide the first steps towards regulation of the European rail transport market by opening the market for international rail freight services. However, the provisions on safety have proved to be insufficient and differences between safety requirements remain, which affect the optimum functioning of rail transport in the Community. It is of particular importance to harmonise the content of safety rules, safety certification of railway undertakings, the tasks and roles of the safety authorities and the investigation of accidents.

Metros, trams and other light rail systems are in many Member States subject to local or regional safety rules and are often supervised by local or regional authorities and not covered by the requirements on Community interoperability or licensing. Trams are furthermore often subject to road safety legislation and could therefore not be fully covered by railway safety rules. For these reasons and in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty, Member States should be allowed to exclude such local rail systems from the scope of this Directive.

Safety levels in the Community rail system are generally high, in particular compared to road transport. It is important that safety is at the very least maintained during the current restructuring phase, which will separate functions of previously integrated railway companies and move the railway sector further from self-regulation to public regulation. In line with technical and scientific progress, safety should be further improved, when reasonably practicable and taking into account the competitiveness of the rail transport mode.

All those operating the railway system, infrastructure managers and railway undertakings, should bear the full responsibility for the safety of the system, each for their own part....