▶ This week, the former European Central Bank chief and former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi issued his much-anticipated report on how to supercharge European competitiveness.

▶ He lamented that “rail markets remain fragmented”. Here is the key excerpt from his in-depth analysis and recommendations:

“Passenger and freight capacity handling is not planned and coordinated across borders.

Some 800 national rules still exist for rail across the EU. Moreover, operational requirements diverge.

Market barriers remain for new entrants who in some cases face high track access charges and difficulties in accessing equipment and ticketing systems. This weakens the ability of providers to scale up and operate across borders.

Operators active in more than one national market remain the exception in the EU. Consequently, the number of long-distance cross-border rail services in Europe has hardly increased during the last two decades.

Consumers experience a lack of fast connections, complexity in booking multiple legs of journeys and weaker consumer passenger rights” (page 213).

ALLRAIL’s President Dr Erich Forster says: “It is time for EU Member States to end national protectionism and speed up market opening with:

(1) Lower Track Access Charges, (2) Fair and Affordable Access to Rolling Stock, and (3) All Rail Options Must Be Shown and Sold at All Rail Ticket Vendors”.