Infrabel, the manager of the Belgian railway infrastructure, holds the opinion that securing the competitiveness of the rail sector should be among the key priorities for the Belgian Presidency. To this end, progress should be made in three areas.

Firstly, the Belgian Presidency should make all possible efforts to achieve the internalisation of external costs. Transport still relies heavily on oil and consequently generates costs in terms of air and noise pollution, accidents, congestion, and climate change. These external costs are currently borne by society and this sends out price signals for different modes of transport that are totally incorrect.

To set things right, the European Commission proposed to amend the Eurovignette Directive as early as July 2008, to allow Member States to charge trucks for their external costs. Unfortunately, the initiative has been stalled in the legislative pipeline. Infrabel therefore counts on the Belgian Presidency to make a breakthrough on this issue. This would be a huge challenge, but we sincerely believe it is feasible. Moreover, through earmarking the revenue generated from charging external costs to environmentally friendly and energy efficient modes of transport such as rail, we believe the EU would achieve a quantum leap in the greening of transport.

Secondly, Infrabel expects a great deal from the extension of trans-European corridors for rail freight. The Commission’s legislative proposal on this subject is currently being reviewed at Second Reading stage by the European Parliament as well as the Council. At the time of writing, Spain is working hard to reach an agreement before the end of its Presidency; however it is likely that the Belgian Presidency will inherit the dossier.

Infrabel is convinced that this initiative will be a major opportunity. We are strong believers in the corridor-concept and for a long time have worked closely with other infrastructure managers to develop an international rail freight network. For Belgium in particular, the extension of corridors A, C and F could be of great benefit to its North Sea ports.

Last but not least, Infrabel sees a challenge in boosting multimodality and integrated logistics. We feel that the time is right to evaluate what the Commission’s June 2006 Action Plan on the issue has brought us to date. The development of rail traffic to and from Port hinterlands requires special attention in this respect.

Infrabel is a strong advocate of intermodal solutions between rail and sea. It puts a great deal of effort into further developing rail infrastructure in and around the Belgian port areas (Antwerp, Zeebruges, Ghent). Important projects include the construction of the Liefkenshoek rail tunnel in the port of Antwerp, and the extension of the marshalling and formation facilities in the port of Zeebruges.