MEPs at Transport Committee in the European Parliament approved a report on the “rail recast” reform plans asking for separate accounting for railway undertakings and rail network managers, non-discriminatory access to rail paths and service facilities and transparent pricing.

Conditions and prices for path allocation and access to rail-related services should be based on transparent calculations, according to a report recently approved by the Transport Committee at the European Parliament. MEPs ask overall fair and enforceable competition rules that are key to a Single European Railway Area. In March 2012, the Council adopted a position on the single European railway area which modified Commission's proposal.

The report was approved in second reading vote. Most of Parliament's initial improvements to the Commission's recast proposal were reiterated in the second reading amendments. These include separating and monitoring accounts to ensure that railway undertakings that are structurally – or historically - linked to the infrastructure manager (integrated model), do not gain an unfair advantage over competitors.

In addition, MEPs ask that conditions and prices for path allocation and access to rail-related services should be based on transparent calculations and include incentives to reduce noise and equip trains with European train control systems. They also advocate financing contracts of at least 5 years, to be drawn up by public funding authorities, to enable sound planning of infrastructure investment, meeting the needs of the entire sector.