Objective

Track Access Charges (TACs) are the charges payable by a Railway Undertaking (RU) to an Infrastructure Manager (IM) for running a train on the IM’s railway network. In calculating TACs, an IM takes into account many factors: IMs charge costs that are directly incurred as a result of operating the train service and may levy mark-ups at a rate which the market can bear. In addition to provisions in the “Single European Railway Area Directive” setting out the basic framework, a specific regulatory framework on Track Access Charges was developed in 2015 in the Implementing Regulation 2015/909 to further specify how to calculate the cost that is directly incurred as a result of operating the train service.

In 2022, to alleviate the financial impact of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine on all railway undertakings (RUs), the European Commission adopted and extended several times a temporary legislation to allow IMs to lower their TACs below direct costs and to waive reservation and cancellation charges.

EIM in action

• Due to the direct (financial) impact on its members, EIM closely followed the topic;
• EIM collected data from its members for the European Commission about the evolution of train-kilometres and train numbers during specific reference periods.

Facts & context

Public procurement refers to the process by which public authorities, such as government departments or local authorities, purchase works, goods or services from companies. Public procurement plays an important role for the railway sector – and particularly for Infrastructure Managers (IMs) – since IMs manage large projects with significant budgets which need to be procured under national and EU law. The updated legal framework on public procurement sets the “Most Economically Advantageous Tender” (MEAT) as a principle guiding contract award, enabling the contracting authority to take account of criteria that reflect qualitative, technical and sustainable aspects of tender submissions as well as the price.

EIM in action

• EIM continues to advocate a public procurement system which takes into consideration not only price, but also criteria related to whole life-cycle costing, innovation, environment, sustainability and social corporate responsibility.