The National Markets and Competition Commission asks Adif to update the network declarations

2023-12-06 00:00:00

The National Markets and Competition Commission asks Adif to update the network declarations

(05/12/2023)

The regulatory body has published a Report on the ‘updating of the Network Declarations for 2024 and the 2025 Network Declarations of Adif and Adif Alta Velocity’ that recalls that “these documents are essential for railway companies, both for passengers and for passengers. goods, because they detail the available infrastructure, the access conditions, including the economic ones, and also the criteria and procedures by which the capacity in the network for trains is awarded.” For this reason, it is considered that Adif and Adif Alta Velocity “should approve their Activity Programs as soon as possible so that companies in the sector can plan their investments.”

According to the Commission, the Adif and Adif AV network declaration proposals do not follow the guidelines of the European infrastructure managers association, Rail Net Europe, nor do they correspond to normal European practices. In this sense, they explain that its validity period is one calendar year, while in the rest of Europe it corresponds to the service schedule, which begins on the second Saturday of December of the year.

Ability

In addition, they emphasize that “Adif and Adif AV should also adjust their Network Statement to include all the rules applicable to the process of requesting and allocating capacity, to traffic management and to the economic conditions of access to the network during business hours.” service”.

This line details that in the current situation, the ordinary capacity allocation process for a service schedule is regulated in the Network Declaration of the previous year, and the traffic management rules, the economic regime and the process of capacity modification are found in the following year. This situation causes “railway companies to have to consult two statements to plan their operations, and at the time of requesting capacity they do not know all the rules that will apply to them during service hours,” they add.

Program

The Commission recalls that the Indicative Railway Strategy was approved by the Ministry of Transport in December 2022, “so Adif and Adif AV should approve their Activity Programs as soon as possible. These must include the planned actions in the railway network over a period of five years, and this information is essential for companies to design their business plans: investments in new material or its modification according to the characteristics of the infrastructure, training and qualification of railway personnel, etc.

Finally, they highlight that the Activity Programs are even more important since the Ministry’s Indicative Strategy is very general and does not identify the lines or sections on which action is planned, as the Signal Commission did in a report, nor does it explain what they consist of. the interventions nor the deadlines for their execution.