The Fourth Railway Package – public hearing – Brussels 7 may 2013
description
Transcript of The Fourth Railway Package – public hearing – Brussels 7 may 2013
Public hearing: Committee of
Transport and Tourism
Brussels 7 May 2013
Newcomer´s perspective
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The Fourth Railway Package – public hearing – Brussels 7 may 2013
- leather seats
- 4 Bistros
- Free WiFi
- 4 to 10 Stewardesses / Stewards per train
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WESTbahn – facts
- house-tariff tickets: valid for 1 year
- refund, exchanges for free
- passenger charter (-25/50%) compensation for delays automatically credited ticket = coupon
- route: Vienna – Linz – Salzburg – Freilassing
- timetable 2013: about 3,16 million train kilometers
- almost hourly traffic
- 7 trains sets – double-deck – 501 seats; 200km/h
WESTbahn - expectancy before market entry
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fair chance for invest payback
fair competition
non-discriminatory conditions
WESTbahn – report
traffic permit & security certificate – in time, done
Vehicle homologation
in Switzerland – cross acceptance Austria
(no automatic recognition of safety engineering in Germany)
first WESTbahn timetable
concept phase – outlook: travel time 2:45 Vienna – Salzburg
first timetable offer: travel time 3:00; including a stop of 8 min (overtaking by ÖBB PV AG)
regulatory proceeding in august 2011: settlement reached
most trains travel time: 3:00
current timetable 2013
path allocation coached by regulator (2012) – fast compromise reached
customer view: 4 long-distance trains departing/arriving from/to Vienna within 20 min – afterwards 40 min no service suboptimal result for the customer
WESTbahn – report
competitive environment
March 2010: amendment in the Austrian Federal Procurement act to allow direct awards over 100.000€ for public rail services
February 2011: direct award retroactively from 4/2010 given to ÖBB-PV AG
for 71,1 million train kilometers (timetable 2011) = nearly 80% of all local and long-distance services of ÖBB-PV AG
Long-distance trains from Vienna-Salzburg are not part of the direct award
WESTbahn started legal actions: pending at supreme administrative court
current: new direct awards last announcement for direct award 3/2013: Linz-Graz for IC-trains to ÖBB-PV AG; starting from 12/2013 ( today served by WESTbus-offer)
pricing:
Three months before market entry of WESTbahn; new national offer from ÖBB-PV AG starting from 9€
After annual price increase between 2005-2009 from mid 2009 to today: just one price increase mid 2012
WESTbahn: complaint before the federal competition authority
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Trains Vienna-Salzburg-Innsbruck-Switzerland: from Salzburg westwards with subsidies
WESTbahn – report
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Infrastructure-usage fee:
since 2012 strong increase – before: yearly small increase
regulator initiated a proceeding
Direct award to ÖBB-PV AG for nearly 80% of all regional-and long-distance train services includes the clause that additional infrastructure usage fees will be refunded by the state
Non predictable costs high risk for newcomers to fail economically.
WESTbahn – report
operative settlement
few problems (sometimes local and after interruptions in the line security system)
infrastructure: timetable information, platform information, announcement of trains,..
non-discriminatory train management on the line
customer information and promotion:
real-time data no access was granted WESTbahn regulatory proceeding resulted in a question and predecision of European Court of Justice in the meanwhile: access to the data has been granted by ÖBB-Infrastructure
positioning of WESTbahn-promoters in the railway stations: at the beginning ÖBB Infrastructure fixed small sections to move/stand (1 x 1m); Security monitoring, high cost allocation for WESTbahn (regulator: different to ÖBB-PV AG) regulatory proceeding: ÖBB Infrastructure position was refused – now free access – free movement in the stations
timetable and price-info-columns: first ÖBB Infrastructure approved only 50% of all ordered places in railway stations regulatory proceeding: a few days before decision meeting of the commission; all locations approved
contracts with advertising companies imposed a ban on WESTbahn orders for station advertising intervention of regulator: changed contracts
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with regulator help
WESTbahn – report
essential facilities:
WESTbahn timetable integration in ÖBB-PV AG system “Scotty”
after antitrust proceeding: WESTbahn was integrated
ticketing-link still refused
timetable 2013, 2014 – path allocation
timetable 2013: Regulator coaching from the beginning - compromise
timetable 2014: currently smooth handling
competition issues outside of the scope of the 4th railway package
transport associations in Austria
old contracts - for example in Salzburg - allow the incumbents (rail and bus) the exclusion of newcomers up to four years from the normal revenue sharing
account payments: long delays
financing: Eurofima with state guarantee financing versus free market financing for the newcomer
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WESTbahn – expectation versus reality
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further improvements in non-discriminatory culture required
support of regulator is essential – more competences needed for regulatory bodies
private investors need predictable conditions unpredictable infrastructure cost development kills businessplans
Customer-oriented timetable - even with competition (not 4 trains in 20 minutes – 0 trains in 40 minutes).