ABSTRACT
Railways in Europe began to struggle during the late 1960s, with both rail freight and passenger transport finding it difficult to compete with the increasing popularity of road and air transport and to adapt to new customer requirements. This triggered a reaction from the European Commission (EC), which has sought ways to overcome this declining competitiveness of rail vis-à-vis road. According to the EC, greater competition will help to create a more efficient and customer-responsive industry. EU rail legislation has consistently encouraged competitiveness and market opening, with the first major law in this direction dating back to 1991. Since then the EC has continuously proposed ‘railway packages’ with the aim to introduce competitive and structural regulatory tools to open and foster international and national rail freight and passenger transport markets to solve the problems identified.
