Three years after it was adopted by the European Commission (EC), the Fourth Railway Package has reached a key phase in its gestation, and is likely to become law in 2016, bringing significant structural changes to the industry. In October European Union (EU) transport ministers reached a unanimous agreement on a general approach to the Political Pillar of the package at a meeting of the EU Transport Council, backing the liberalisation of domestic passenger services and measures to strengthen the governance of the rail sector. A core aim of the proposals is achieving non-discriminatory access to domestic passenger markets - which accounts for around 94% of all passenger traffic - in all EU states, either through commercial operations or public service obligation (PSO) contracts.
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