ALLRAIL very much welcomes that the EU Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) will definitively publish a proposal for the recast of the Train Drivers’ Directive (2007/59/EC) including reform of the cross-border language regime.

30 years after its creation, the EU Single Market is proven to be a source of mutual prosperity for its citizens. Yet passenger rail is being held back by the lingering fragmentation of the system along national and linguistic boundaries. Trains carry only 4-5% of EU cross-border passengers. It Can Only Get Better.

Therefore, it is high time that one of the major barriers to standardisation in the Single European Railway Area be removed: international train drivers need a single language.

It is very misguided to believe that the current system works well without any problems. Even when the train drivers are changed over at internal EU borders, there are huge problems with the different languages. The staff still have to take over the train sets and talk to the infrastructure dispatcher or station dispatcher. If the relevant staff spoke the same language, it would be so much easier. 

Furthermore, it is wrong to argue that the costs of shifting to a single language would be very high. Train drivers do not need to write poems or quote Shakespeare. In addition, it is misleading to claim that all train staff in the EU will have to learn the same language. In reality, it will only be the drivers and train control teams who actually deal with international trains. This means there will be no need to teach over 90% of train staff in Europe who only operate domestically – which will massively reduce the cost.

What is more, the current system creates unnecessary expense, which would be avoided if a single language was adopted. Train staff are required to change over at internal EU borders, creating inefficiency and adding costs.

ALLRAIL is convinced that more efficient and competitive passenger rail services will often double or even triple the size of the EU cross-border rail market. The new revenue will offset any purported expenses from having one single language for train drivers.

“A single language would harmonise conditions between rail and other sectors, and achieve a level playing field. As long as this does not happen, then there will never really be a Single European Railway Area with One Europe and One Railway.”

ALLRAIL President Dr Erich Forster