Article 49 — Crisis situations

1. In crisis situations or in cases of imminent risk of a crisis situation occurring related to public safety, health epidemics, natural disasters or the environment that have or are expected to have a critical effect on the supply or demand of rail transport services, Member States shall be allowed to apply emergency measures that include, by way of derogation from the rules of this Regulation and from the rules related to the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity laid down in Chapter IV, Section 3 of Directive 2012/34/EU: (a) the cancellation of capacity rights without penalty in accordance with Article 42; (b) alternative principles, rules and procedures for capacity management; (c) alternative procedures for traffic management; (d) the use of alternative routes; (e) the amendment of capacity supply plans. The Member State concerned shall ensure that the emergency measures follow to the extent possible the principles on capacity and traffic management set out in this Regulation and that they make use of existing contingency plans prepared in accordance with Article 21. It shall coordinate such emergency measures with other Member States in accordance with Article 56. The content and the duration of emergency measures shall be limited to what is strictly necessary and proportionate to address the crisis situation in question. 2. The Member State concerned shall inform the Commission and ENIM without delay of its decision to apply emergency measures, and of the repeal of such measures, and shall provide a justification and a description of those measures and the expected duration of their application. Where Regulation (EU) 2024/2747 of the European Parliament and of the Council applies, the Member State concerned shall also notify the central liaison office designated by that Member State pursuant to Article 8 of that Regulation of the measures adopted pursuant to this Article. 3. Focal points appointed in accordance with Article 64 of this Regulation shall provide information to the Commission, ENIM, other infrastructure managers, the competent authority referred to in Article 9(1) of Directive (EU) 2022/2557, and other interested parties about the emergency measures and shall help coordinate such measures. 4. Where emergency measures have a significant impact on cross-border traffic, infrastructure managers shall coordinate between themselves in accordance with Article 55, while taking into account the guidelines developed by ENIM in accordance with Article 57(2). When performing coordination through dedicated coordination structures in accordance with Article 55(2), point (a), the Commission and the Member States concerned shall be involved. 5. At the request of the Commission, in the event that emergency measures have a significant impact on cross-border traffic, regulatory bodies and the ENRRB shall provide their opinion on the emergency measures to the Commission within the deadline set by the latter. The Commission may adopt decisions requiring a Member State to repeal the emergency measures, if they are deemed not to be necessary. 6. Member States shall provide updated information where necessary or on request from the Commission. Member States shall provide all the information required by the Commission about the emergency measures within the deadlines set by the latter. 7. Public authorities in charge of managing crisis situations, including the military, civil protection agencies, and others, may organise exercises simulating crisis situations falling within the scope of this Article. In such cases, the infrastructure manager shall allocate capacity as needed, including the cancellation of allocated capacity rights if necessary. The public authorities concerned shall be subject to a penalty for changes to capacity rights, in accordance with the principles referred to in Article 42.