51K3055 | Demobel

Projet de loi portant dispositions urgentes concernant le chemin de fer.

General information ¶

Submitted by: PS | SP MR Open Vld Vooruit Purple Ⅰ
Submission date: April 2, 2007
Official page: Visit
Status: Adopted
Requirement: Simple
Subjects: investment airport rail network rail transport

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt: CD&V Vooruit PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR VB

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Discussion ¶

April 24, 2007 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

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Rapporteur Ludo Van Campenhout ⚙

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Secretary of State, colleagues, I did not want to refer to the written report, because this is a very important draft.

The first loop relates to the connection between the Brussels airport and the railway connection Schaarbeek-Mechelen and thus also the city of Antwerp, better known as Diabolo. It is an important new railway infrastructure that should boost the competitiveness of our airport. It is important that this new infrastructure is the subject of a public-private cooperation, in which the financing, design, construction and operation of the infrastructure will be entrusted to the private sector by the public-right NV Infrabel in its capacity as infrastructure manager.

The second section of the draft is in line with the restructuring of the NMBS of 1 January 2005 and aims at empowering the King to fulfill the assets on which the NMBS holding holding has a right of use arising from contracts concluded before 1 January 2005. Thus, the right of use can be clarified, despite the fact that the transfer of those assets to the NV of public law NMBS has taken place.

The committee discussed this bill at the meeting of the 11 April youngest members. The Secretary of State gave an introductory statement. Jef Van den Bergh, first speaker, emphasized the importance of Diabolo for the competitiveness of the airport and the accessibility of the airport from the Antwerp region.

Mr Van den Bergh had three comments. First, the opinion of the State Council was not available. The urgency, he said, was not sufficiently motivated. He wondered why the government did not use Articles 360 and 361 of the Act of 20 July 2006. Second, he asked the question – and this is a concern of many speakers on April 11 – whether there is a guarantee that the passenger contribution will be kept as low as possible in the interest of rail competitiveness. As a third point, he noted that Article 15 of the draft stipulates that all railway undertakings are obliged to contribute to the financing of Diabolo, even if they do not use it. Mr. Van den Bergh wondered if this is reasonable.

Mrs. Lalieux has the same concerns with regard to the amount of passenger contributions and raises the question of the exceptions, for example rich families and the like.

Mr. Van den Eynde of the Flemish Importance states that this design comes too late and that there are already very smooth train connections from Brussels and, for example, Antwerp to Schiphol, Charles de Gaulle, Heathrow, Frankfurt and the like.

The Flemish Belang and speaker Jan Mortelmans believe that the name of the airport should be the airport of Zaventem, since the airport is located on Flemish territory.

Mr Lavaux regrets the absence of a business plan. Your rapporteur, myself, points out the crucial importance of this investment for the competitiveness of the Brussels Airport. From Antwerp, Mr. Secretary of State, very soon one will be much faster in Schiphol than in Brussels. This investment is really urgent and very important.

Regarding the delay, the Secretary of State responded that the airport has recently experienced a substantial growth and that the Diabolo is one aspect of the competitiveness of the airport and that from 2011 combined train-airplane tickets from all regions of Belgium are possible.

Regarding the contribution of passengers, the Secretary of State says it is a public-private cooperation. The private sector, of course, has the right to return in proportion to the risk. The users must therefore contribute, but the contribution is kept as low as possible. Work-to-home traffic is excluded and a number of categories may be excluded on the basis of the present draft. After 35 years, the infrastructure is also again owned by Infrabel.

Regarding the obligation of all railway operators to contribute, the Secretary of State says that the improvement of the infrastructure is in the interests of the entire network and that it is fair that the entire network contributes proportionally to the financing of Diabolo.

Regarding the opinion of the State Council, he says that the special mandatory decisions of the law of 20 July 2006 have not been used. He will subsequently make amendments to repeal those decisions.

The draft is being submitted now and not earlier, because of course negotiations with the private operators must first be held.

During the article-by-article discussion there was an amendment by Mr. Bellot to use the legal name of the airport. That was accepted. All other articles are accepted.

There was another amendment to Article 22bis. In order to respond to the observations of the State Council concerning the authorisation granted to the King, the Secretary of State shall submit an amendment to repeal Articles 360 and 361 of the Act of 20 July 2006, which would render this draft unnecessary. The amendment of the Secretary of State was unanimously accepted.

Then this important bill was accepted with 10 votes for and 1 abstinence, which is appropriate for such an important bill.