Fourth Railway Package

The fourth railway package is a set of changes to rail transport regulation in the European Union law.

[1] It covers standards and authorisation for rolling stock; workforce skills; independent management of infrastructure; and the liberalisation of domestic passenger services in an attempt to reduce European rail subsidies.

Because of scepticism in most countries about the value of liberalisation, the package permits tracks and trains to be owned by a single holding company.

[3][4] The "compliance verification clause" could allow regulators to place sanctions on parts of a vertically integrated rail business which place obstacles in the way of competitors trying to provide services on their network; this would improve competition.

[6] In 2015, the technical and political pillars of the package were accepted by EU transport ministers and currently the European Commission, Parliament and Council are negotiating to reach an agreement on the text of the regulations.