Open access is the right of a licensed railway undertaking to run rail services on its own commercial initiative, buying train paths from the infrastructure manager and carrying the revenue risk itself. Services under a public service contract are the other way to operate passenger trains.
EU law introduced open access in stages. Rail freight has been fully open since the start of 2007, and international passenger services since 1 January 2010, including the right to pick up and set down passengers at stations along the route.
The 4th Railway Package extended the right to domestic passenger services from the timetable starting on 14 December 2020. A licensed railway undertaking with a safety certificate can apply for capacity to run commercial passenger services in any member state.
Without open access, the only route into a national passenger market is a public service contract, awarded on the authority’s terms and timetable. Open access lets an operator enter where it sees demand, subject to available capacity.
The economic equilibrium test
Article 11 of the Recast Directive allows member states to limit open access on routes covered by a public service contract if a new service would compromise the contract’s economic equilibrium. The national regulatory body decides on the basis of an objective economic analysis, following a request from the competent authority, the infrastructure manager or the operator of the contract.
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1795 sets out the procedure and criteria for the test. Member states can also let authorities impose a levy on passenger services to help finance public service obligations.
Access also depends on capacity. An entrant needs train paths in the annual timetable, and on congested lines the infrastructure manager applies priority criteria when requests conflict.
Open access in the market
Italy has had competition on high-speed lines since April 2012, when Italo began running against Trenitalia. In Spain, Ouigo started high-speed services in May 2021 and Iryo in November 2022, both in competition with Renfe.
Outside high speed, open-access operators such as WESTbahn in Austria and RegioJet in the Czech Republic run long-distance services on conventional lines. At EU level, they are represented by ALLRAIL, the Alliance of Passenger Rail New Entrants in Europe, founded in April 2017. Its members include RegioJet, WESTbahn, Leo Express and FlixTrain.