ALLRAIL, ERFA, FTE and UIRR welcome the opportunity to provide feedback on the draft Guidelines for the Modulation of Penalties at this early stage of the drafting process.The Capacity Regulation introduces reciprocal penalties for infrastructure managers and applicants. As these penalties may have a direct financial impact on railway undertakings and other applicants, it is essential that the penalties will be fair, transparent, proportionate, customer-oriented and implemented consistently across Europe.
Having reviewed the draft guidelines from a market perspective, we would like to highlight the following key concerns and recommendations. More detailed comments and supporting explanations will be submitted separately through the consultation template (see here).
1. Clear definition of “significant change”
A clear and objective definition of “significant change” is currently missing, although it is the fundamental condition for triggering penalties under Article 42 of the Capacity Regulation. This concept must be defined in a reciprocal manner and duly consider the impact on the customer. Our experience in related discussions, including work on Temporary Capacity Restrictions, raises concerns that the approach currently pursued by infrastructure managers is neither fully reciprocal nor sufficiently customer-oriented. (....)