Network of European Railways with Spectacular Action in Berlin

Sep 29, 2020 at 3:24 PM

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The Network of European Railways (NEE) is making headlines with a spectacular protest action. A protest train in the truest sense of the word rolled noisily and dramatically through Berlin. The freight railways want to take traffic off the roads instead of being shrunk – securing fair competition with EU regulations.

(Berlin) With the very first and particularly powerful and widely audible demonstration on rails, the Network of European Railways (NEE) demanded fair competitive conditions and efficient support for climate-friendly freight railways in the Corona crisis and beyond yesterday, Monday. A nearly 400-meter-long freight locomotive protest train started at 11:20 AM on the outskirts of the capital for the special trip “Hear the Signal, Berlin!” One of the modern freight locomotives sent to Berlin by 19 of the 73 NEE members carries not only the title but also the action slogan – “100% Commitment, 50% Market Share, 0% Corona Aid” and the logos of all NEE members.

Ludolf Kerkeling, Chairman of the Association of Freight Railways, said at the departure of the protest train in Wustermark: “We demand that the federal government does not grant preferential treatment to the state-owned DB Cargo.” Competitors must not be excluded from the intended Corona aid. Kerkeling: “The capital injection planned only for DB is unlawful under EU competition law, as it allows DB Cargo, among other things, to undercut its competitors in the market.” State Corona aid must follow the same principles for all freight railways. There must be no preferential treatment for DB freight railways in fair competition.

Demands Specified

The association of competitors specified its demand in the ongoing procedure for reviewing the DB aid, at least through appropriate conditions to prevent the impending distortion of competition.
Kerkeling said: “Alternative 1 is: The existing profit transfer and control agreements within the DB Group are terminated. This would mean that the losses of DB Cargo, which cannot be attributed solely to the pandemic, would no longer be automatically compensated by the DB Group or the state.” DB Cargo must be subject to the same market mechanisms as any other freight railway. “Alternative 2 to achieve this goal,” according to Kerkeling, “would be that DB Cargo reimburses the federal support within a manageable period – through revenues either from successful business activities or from the sale of business shares.”

The freight railways renewed their announcement to potentially submit a competition-critical decision by the EU Commission regarding the aid to the Court of Justice of the European Union for review. Kerkeling continued: “Our members have long been solely responsible for the growth in rail freight transport. They all want to make an even stronger contribution to shifting traffic through modern and customer-oriented offers. They want to leave the Corona crisis behind as quickly as possible and not be shrunk by the federal policy focused on DB.” Therefore, Kerkeling stated, the EU Commission must prohibit the federal government from providing unilateral support to DB. “Also out of political self-interest: A powerful rail freight transport is indispensable as an alternative to climate-damaging truck traffic for the Green Deal,” Kerkeling concluded.

1,700 Ton Heavy Train Made Up of Locomotives

The approximately 1,700-ton protest train made up of colorful freight locomotives with a total installed electrical power of around 100,000 kilowatts is pulled by just one locomotive. It initially crossed the government district on the city railway and stopped for a quarter of an hour as a backdrop for photos and statements at Berlin Central Station before continuing its journey through the east, southeast, south, and west of the capital, honking loudly all the way.