L 315/44 Official Journal of the European Union 3.12.2007 DIRECTIVES DIRECTIVE 2007/ 58/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 October 2007 amending Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the Community’s railways and Directive 2001/14/EC on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EURO- PEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Article 71 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (?), Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty, in the light of the joint text approved by the Con- ciliation Committee on 31 July 2007 (3), Whereas: (1) Council Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community’s railways (4) was designed to facilitate the adaptation of the Community’s railways to the requirements of the single market and to improve their efficiency. (2)  Directive 2001/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 on the allocation of (1) O] C 221, 8.9.2005, p. 56. (2) OJ C 71, 22.3.2005, p. 26. (*) Opinion of the European Parliament of 28 September 2005 (O] C 227 E, 21.9.2006, p. 460), Council Common Position of 24 July 2006 (O] C 289 E, 28.11.2006, p. 30), Position of the European Par- liament of 18 January 2007 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Legislative Resolution of the European Parliament of 25 September 2007 and Council Decision of 26 September 2007. (*) OJ L 237, 24.8.1991, p. 25. Directive as last amended by Directive 2006/103/EC (O] L 363, 20.12.2006, p. 344). railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure (°) concerns the prin- ciples and procedures to be applied with regard to the set- ting and charging of railway infrastructure charges and the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity. (3)  In its White Paper European transport policy for 2010: time to decide, the Commission announced its intention to continue building the internal market in rail services by proposing to open up the market in international passen- ger services. (4)  The aim of this Directive is to address the opening of the market for international rail passenger services within the Community, and it should therefore not concern services between a Member State and a third country. In addition, Member States should be able to exclude from the scope of this Directive services transiting the Community. (5)  International rail services currently present a very contrast- ing picture. Long-distance services (for instance night trains) are in difficulty and several of them have recently been withdrawn by the railway undertakings operating them in order to limit losses. The market for international high-speed services, on the other hand, has seen a sharp increase in traffic and will continue its vigorous develop- ment with the doubling and interconnection of the trans- European high-speed network by 2010. Nevertheless, there is strong competitive pressure from low-cost airlines in both cases. It is therefore essential to stimulate new initia- tives by promoting competition between railway undertakings. (°) OJ L 75, 15.3.2001, p. 29. Directive as last amended by Directive 2004/49[EC (O] L 164, 30.4.2004, p. 44), corrected by OJ L 220, 21.6.2004, p. 16.