(The Associated Press distributed the following article on October 23.)
STRASBOURG, France — The European Parliament voted Thursday to open up competition for freight and passenger traffic on Europe’s railways, but the bill is expected to be watered down by governments eager to protect national monopolies.
The bill approved by the European Union’s assembly would open all freight traffic to competition by Jan. 1, 2006, and passenger traffic two years later.
Most national governments want to phase in the opening up of goods traffic up to 2008 and think it’s too early to consider opening up national monopolies for passenger traffic.
National representatives are now set to meet with a committee of lawmakers to reach a compromise.
France, Luxembourg and Belgium in particular are reluctant to move too fast with the liberalization, seeking to protect state railroad companies to avoid job losses and union protests.
However, they are facing pressure to open up the railways, a move the EU’s head office insists will make network more efficient, persuading freight companies to switch to trains instead of trucks blamed for clogging Europe’s highways and increasing pollution.
According to the European Commission, only 9 percent of freight traffic in the EU is carried by rail, less than half the level of 30 years ago. In comparison the railroad network in the United States carries 40 percent of the country’s goods traffic.
EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio is hoping for an agreement before the end of the year.