Deregulation in 2010 – what is it?

• I have had many questions on what is deregulation or liberalisation in the rail industry – when does it happen and what is it?

  So to start with, just a brief description of what deregulation is:

  On the 3rd March 2004 the European Commission introduced the third Railway Package. This included a main item - International passenger rail services will be opened up to competition as of 1st January 2010.

   This basically means that railways will now be able to operate outside of their home country meaning that you will have a choice when travelling from one country to another, with competition over some key city pairs.

   This could mean an acceleration of the high speed track construction which could threaten some airline routes between major city pairs (we know and see this already e.g. LON/PAR). It could also mean more strategic alliances between different modes of transport as well as railways. We could start to see a new distribution standard for ticketing and through booking. It could also open up new markets in Eastern Europe.

   As we move into a new era of travel in Europe, whatever the outcome, maybe a quote from Charles Darwin may help us along “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, or the most intelligent. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

  

  24 Feb 2009

  Posted by: Philip Martin