Three members of the coalition were invited by the GUE/NGL (European United Left / Nordic Green Left) fraction of the European Parliament to give arguments to a discussion with the Commission on the Fourth Railway Package, which was about to start.
The Back on Track members were Joachim Holstein, Philippe Koch and Poul Kattler. The visit took place 27.-28.10. 2015.
We met the whole group (with some absent to other meetings) Tuesday night and starting with a small quiz to engage the audience, we made a summary of our views. Wednesday morning we met with MEP Merja Kyllonen and three assistants and went into details.
A main point from the discussion Wednesday was the atomization of the passenger railway sector. Regions with subsidy-systems make it difficult to cross borders to other regions. Countries the same. Cross border traffic is hereby suffering.
Traffic is seen more as individual lines in stead of networks. We could tell about good experiences with networks operated by different operators in Switzerland.
Politicians said that ideology was prevailing, saying that free market was always the best.
>> General presentation from Joachim Holstein
>> Poul Kattlers presentation about unfair competition and climate