Page 43 - RFC Rhine-Alpine_Annual Report 2016

CORRIDOR RHINE-ALPINE – Annual Report 2016 Activities of the Executive Board 41
rail freight traffic (both intermodal and single wagon load can use the corridor and the connection to Belgian–Dutch North Sea ports) is completed.
Framework for Capacity Allocation
The network of Executive Boards adopted its revised com- monly agreed text of the Framework for Capacity Allocation for the rail freight corridors on 16 December 2016. On this date also the framework for the RFC Rhine-Alpine was signed and is applicable for the allocation of capacity from the timetable 2018 onwards. The review of the Timetable 2018 was modest; some error corrections/clarifications compared to the timetable 2017 version were included.
Relevant for the further development of the Framework for Capacity Allocation is the consultation of the European Commission on revising Annex VII of Directive 2012/34/ EU on timetabling.5 The consultation aims at harmonising the planning of infrastructure works throughout the EU and addresses the deadlines for submitting requests for capacity. Once a revision of the Annex will be adopted, the common Framework for Capacity Allocation for the rail freight corridors may have to be amended accordingly.
ERTMS
The ExB RFC Rhine-Alpine continued to work on the plan- ning of ERTMS deployment on the corridor and held two task force meetings specifically aimed at ERTMS deploy- ment. In the European context, the specifications of ERTMS baseline 3 were adopted by the European Commission (EU) 2016/919, important for the design of infrastructure and on-board equipment of ERTMS. Also the European Deploy- ment Plan on the implementation of ERTMS was revised and published in the beginning of 2017 ((EU) 2017/06). This means that the ERTMS target for deploying the corri- dor is delayed until 2022 (from 2015/2018 as taken up in the former EDP published in (EU) 2012/88).
The corridor countries gave input to the European Commis- sion’s cost-benefit study on the deployment of ERTMS. The corridor also works with the European Commission on a study on improving conditions for financing and procuring ERTMS on-board equipment which is of great importance to the railway undertakings who will have to install ERTMS or upgrade their ERTMS version.
In the European context, the adoption of the technical pil- lar of the fourth railway package is also highly relevant for the future authorisations of ERTMS infrastructure and on-board equipment. From 2019 onwards applications for
5 See EC consultation https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/initiatives/ares-2017-1433866_en