Support study for revision of Railway Guidelines

E.CA Economics will assist the European Commission in the revision of the Railway Guidelines. Together with LEAR, University of East Anglia and Sheppard Mullin, E.CA will provide an impact assessment support study for the review of the Community guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings. It will provide factual, analytical and data inputs that contribute to ensuring that the Guidelines set the rules applicable to the rail sector and to the entire value chain involved in the modal shift from road to rail and other less polluting transport modes. Over 140 stakeholders (among others granting authorities, regulatory bodies, industry associations, and railway and logistics companies) from 13 different countries will be contacted via surveys and targeted interviews to collect relevant data and meaningful insights. Industry experts from Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds will be supporting the consortium.

As part of the revision process of the current Community Guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings (Railway Guidelines) from 2008, the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission (DG COMP) has commissioned this external support study. The fitness check of the Railway Guidelines conducted in 2019 and 2020 confirmed that the Guidelines are not fit-for-purpose and require a full-fledged review to align them with the market and regulatory developments, in particular to make them fit for the full liberalisation of the rail sector following in particular the adoption of the Fourth Railway Package in 2016. This review is also required to support the EU policy priorities in the context of the Green Deal and the increased importance of a modal shift from road to less polluting transport modes such as rail and inland waterways in order to meet the Union’s emissions reduction target by 2050.