THE European Commission (EC) announced on October 17 that the EU transport infrastructure budget for 2014-20 will be €26.25bn, a threefold increase over the allocation for 2007-13, and the funds will be allocated to a new 'core network' of nine corridors with emphasis on improving east-west links.

EUROPEAN Union (EU) Marco Polo programmes designed to encourage the transfer of road freight to rail are "ineffective" and should be discontinued in their current form, according to a critical report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) published on July 16.

THE European Commission (EC) has issued a formal request to the French and British governments to enforce European regulations on track access charging for freight and passenger trains in the Channel Tunnel, which have been branded "excessive" by transport commissioner Mr Siim Kallas.

A MAJOR step towards creating a standardised European system for rolling stock approvals was made on June 10, when the EU Transport Council adopted a 'general approach' on new rules which will introduce a single European authorisation for placing into service (APS) for railway vehicles.

FOUR European railway associations plus the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) are calling for urgent action to accelerate the excessively slow and cumbersome processes for the certification of trains in Europe which they argue are far too costly and are harming rail's competitive position.

GERMAN Rail (DB) CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube has called on European governments to adopt the structure of Germany's railway industry to foster competition and increase market share.

THE European Commission (EC) is to refer Slovenia to the European Court of Justice for failing to transpose a directive on railway interoperability into national law. The deadline for implementation was December 31 2011.

SANCTIONS could be imposed on vertically-integrated railways obstructing competition in their home market under new measures included in the draft Fourth Railway Package, which was unveiled by the European Commission (EC) on January 30.

IN a landmark ruling, the European Court of Justice has decreed that Austrian infrastructure manager ÖBB Infrastructure acted unlawfully in preventing open-access operator Westbahn from accessing real-time data on the train movements of other operators.

THE transport ministers of the European Union, meeting in Luxembourg today, approved the text agreed with the European Parliament for the recast of the First Railway Package which will establish a single European railway area.