"The exemption from the payment of fuel excise may lead to re-lunching the  railway transport through cutting the transport tariffs for the passengers and  freight railway transport", the draft said.
 
The amount spent to ensure the necessary fuel  for train haulage represents  over 13% of all the exploitation expenses, this cost mirroring in the transport  tariffs.
 
The road transport gained significant ground in the past years, to the  detriment of the railway transport, even if the latter is considered safer,  quicker and more evironmentally friendly, according to the ministry’s  representatives.
 
Among the European Union’s long-term objectives are a higher volume of  freight railway transports, a gradual liberalization of the railway transport,  the setting up in the upcoming years of a sole market of European railway  transport and a more steady development of the transport sector, which would  reduce the negative effects upon the environment, the traffic jams and the  accidents.