EU pressuring states on rail freight
The European Commission was expected Wednesday to formally charge that 11 countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy, missed the European Union’s deadline to open rail freight services to competition.
The move follows an earlier unofficial warning.
The law required national rail monopolies to open major freight routes to foreign competitors beginning in March.
The EU’s executive arm has pushed for open rail markets as a way to take freight away from trucks and ease congestion and pollution on Europe’s highways.
Only 9 percent of freight traffic in the EU is carried by rail, the Commission said, less than half the level of 30 years ago.
