Recast Directive (2012/34/EU)
Directive 2012/34/EU establishing a single European railway area is the consolidated legal foundation of the EU rail market. It merges the first railway package into one act and governs licensing, infrastructure charging, capacity allocation and the independence of national regulatory bodies.
The Recast Directive of 21 November 2012 consolidates Directives 91/440/EEC, 95/18/EC and 2001/14/EC, together with their amendments, into a single act. Member states had to transpose it by 16 June 2015.
Nearly every structural rule of the European rail market traces back to this act: the separation of accounts between infrastructure management and transport operations, the requirement that every infrastructure manager publish a network statement, and the guarantee of non-discriminatory access to tracks and service facilities.
Market architecture
Railway undertakings are licensed against common criteria, and a licence issued in one member state is valid across the EU. Track access charges must be based on the cost directly incurred by running the train, with mark-ups permitted only where the market segment can bear them.
Capacity is allocated through a defined annual timetable process, with the network statement setting out the conditions in advance. Each member state maintains a regulatory body, independent of any infrastructure manager, charging body, allocation body or applicant, to police access and charging disputes.
If any of this fails — opaque charges, discriminatory allocation, a captive regulator — market entry stalls, because a new operator cannot price a service it cannot reliably get paths for. The directive exists to keep that entry door open.
The market pillar amendment
Directive (EU) 2016/2370, the market pillar of the 4th Railway Package, amended the recast in December 2016. It opened domestic passenger services to open access competition from the timetable change in December 2020 and tightened the independence requirements for infrastructure managers inside vertically integrated groups.
Open access to international passenger services dates from the 3rd Railway Package of 2007 and applies from 1 January 2010; it is folded into the recast. A member state may limit a new open access service only where an economic equilibrium test shows it would compromise an existing public service contract.