The Regimen of the Railway Rolling Stock Protocol.

Abstract

The Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment was agreed and signed in November 2001, together with a Protocol for the aviation sector. In the Final Act of the Convention, states were urged to adopt Protocols for the rail and space sectors, also dedicated to protecting private law security rights of lenders and lessors. The treaty design of a protocol for a specific industry reflects the need to deal with particular industry problems. The urgent world-wide requirement for private investment in rolling stock at attractive rates is driving the industry’s need for security. Rolling stock is constantly crossing jurisdictional boundaries, potentially undermining any pledge or other security interest held by a funder in a financed asset. The Rail Protocol is still a work in progress. After three government experts’ meetings, the basic content is clear, however there is still a need to refine ideas in relation to difficult issues such as bankruptcy, asset identification, scope of the protocol, the ‘public interest’ modifying or restraining creditor rights, as well as transitional problems. As far as possible, pending the diplomatic conference to approve the protocol, these issues should be confronted directly rather than dealt with by opt-ins and opt-outs. Only a unified international law approach to creditor’s security can unlock the exciting potential of the Convention for the rail industry.

Rail Freight in Europe: Different Perspectives on Archieving Higher Service Levels

“…There are also government imposed limits to the length of freight trains as to pulling a maxi mum number of freight cars. Different track charges exist and there are different regulations between domestic and international networks (Rosen 2004). Carriers' legal liability for acci dents or noncompliance with national regula tions or standards are still in need of clarifica tion (Stehmann and Zellhofer 2004).…”

“…Traditionally, incumbent RFTCs have been the owners of rolling stock and are considered the specialists in the areas of production, opera tions, and maintenance (Rosen 2004). The lib eralization process urged incumbents to adapt to a new role, competing with new entrants including foreign incumbents.…”

“…Rolling stock manufacturers face difficulties in adapting to their new role as asset suppliers in a liberalized rail freight market (Rosen 2004). Manufacturers were used to dealing with only a few European incumbent national rail companies, often from the same cultural background (Holvard et al 2004).…”