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34th Meeting of the CUI Committee on 12th December 2024
As one of the last meetings of the year, the CUI Committee took place on 12 December 2024. The online meeting was chaired by Alberto Gallo (Trenitalia) and well attended by various Railway Undertakings (DB, SNCF Voyageurs, Trenitalia, NS, SNCB, CD Cargo, LTG and LTG Cargo, PKP and PKP Cargo, CP) and one representative of OTIF. Discussions focused mainly on two issues in the current context of infrastructure-related topics.
First, the OTIF consultation on a possible revision of the COTIF/CUI Uniform Rules has been one of the major topics of this end-of-year 2024. In particular, CUI Committee members were invited to reflect on any amendments to the CUI Uniform Rules they thought useful in the current context, in the light of the CUI Revision in 2018. Some key elements were mentioned such as the scope of application, the right of recourse of Railway Undertakings vis-à-vis Infrastructure Managers and the question of Service Facilities. These points will be raised again by the GS CIT as part of the response to the questionnaire, which will be sent to the OTIF secretariat in January. The consultation deadline is 17 January 2025.
In the second part of the meeting, CIT detailed developments in EU legislation in the shape of the draft Regulation on the use of railway infrastructure capacity , giving an overview of the draft proposal as well as explanations on the role of the European Framework for Capacity Management. Some details on the governance structure were also clarified. The discussion pinpointed a number of important elements involving recurrent problems and risks, notably the administrative burden and the possible overflow within the “new configuration” such as the missed opportunity for a common, harmonised and strong RU vision to counterbalance the IM position in this matter. Specific questions on the Draft Capacity Regulation, for example regarding Multinetwork Framework Agreements (Article 31 of the draft Regulation), were also discussed during the meeting.
Lastly, CIT presented some thoughts as part of its involvement in the SERAF dedicated subgroup on the “Consultation of stakeholders by rail Infrastructure Managers”. CIT explained the current brainstorming on consultation of European frameworks between infrastructure managers and railway undertakings and comments already made on the draft overview of the current procedure and the target procedure with some inputs.
The next CUI Committee is planned for March or April 2025, and will be an opportunity to wave goodbye to the ex-chairman of the CUI Committee Mr. Adriaan Hagdorn (NS) for his last CIT meeting and for work to start in earnest on the important issues i.e. the potential revision of COTIF, also possible improvements to the CUI rules and the legal follow-up by CIT to the draft capacity regulation.