European railways present plan for first pan-European telematic interface for rail freight services

Brussels, Belgium – 18 January 2007, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) presented to the Commission a strategic plan for the implementation of a common European communication standard for rail freight services.
The use of a Europe-wide message standard by rail freight operators and infrastructure
managers will facilitate the international transport of goods and improve tracking
and customer information for transports where several operators are involved.

The “Strategic European Deployment Plan (SEDP)” is the result of a one-yearproject,
which followed the adoption of the Regulation on Telematics
Applications for Freight (EC) No 62/2006. This Regulation invites the European
railways to describe how they will progressively implement the new technical
specifications in this area.

While handing over the Strategic European Deployment Plan to the Commission,
Jacques Dirand, Freight Policy Adviser at CER, said: “With this Strategic European
Deployment Plan, the European railways are demonstrating their collective
commitment to provide better service to their customers. It is an important step
in tearing down barriers for international freight services.”

Antonio Colaço, Policy Officer in charge of TAF TSI at the Directorate General for
Transport and Energy of the European Commission added: “The European
Commission welcomes the coordinated approach of the whole sector. We will
follow the future developments with great interest.”

The European Deployment Plan was developed in cooperation with other relevant
European railway organisations, in particular UIC, the International Union of
Railways, and EIM, European Rail Infrastructure Managers. The project was cofinanced
by the railway community and the European Union from the trans-
European Transport Networks budget (TEN-T).

CER handed over the SEDP to the Commission and to the Member States in its
function as the main representative body of the railways acting on a European
level as defined in Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 881/2004.