Transcript Slide 1

IDEI and Northwestern University - Toulouse 7-8 November 2003
Railroad Industry Structure,
Competition and Investment
Some remarks from the
Community of European Railways
______________________
Dr. Johannes Ludewig
Executive Director Community of European Railways
The Voice of European Railways
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CER: The Community of European Railways
 The Community of European Railways
brings together 34 railway companies
and infrastructure managers from
the EU Member States, Norway,
Switzerland and the CEEC
 The CER deals with all policy
areas of significance to
railway transport
 The CER offers advice and
recommendations to policy
makers in Brussels
 CER works in close collaboration
with the Paris-based UIC
The Voice of European Railways
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Development of Railway Lines and Motorways (in KM)
in Europe (15) from 1970-2000 (Index 1970 = 100)
Motorways
Rail High Speed Lines
1990
40.000 km
900 km
2000
50.000 km
3.000 km
2010
70.000 km
6.000 km
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
1970
The Voice of European Railways
1980
Motorway
1990
Railway
2000
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The challenge of demand growth – EU White Paper
Achieve a modal shift towards environmentally less damaging
transport modes (« Revitalising RAIL »).
60
50.0%
50
40
38.4%
30
20
12.9%
10
0
1998
Road
Rail
2010
Total and White Paper objective
The Voice of European Railways
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“Revitalising Rail”
(1)
Competition as a necessary condition
(2)
Industry structure: Rail as a system
(3)
How to safeguard system advantages while allowing
for fair competition
(4)
Other needs to realise a sufficient framework
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(1)
Competition as a necessary condition
The European Union has opened up network industries
for competition
• Starting point in the rail sector Directive 91/440,
followed by 1st and 2nd railway package
• Competition leads to a variety of choices for consumers and increases
thereby the overall market volume
• (Potential) competition puts pressure on market players to increase
efficiency
But: -- historical, political differences in EU Member States
(e.g. importance of ‘service publique’ in France)
-- opening of rail passenger market not so straightforward, overlap
between contracted (public services obligations) and
commercial traffic (mostly long distance)
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(2)
Industry structure: Rail as a system
Technical interdepencies and economics of scope exists
• Railways are a track-guided transport system
• The performance of the system is largely determined through the
infrastructure
• Traffic management functions (e.g. signalling) will in future be
divided between track and vehicle (ERTMS)
• Investment decisions in new rail infrastructure depend on the
planned services (detailed planning including train programme,
foreseen time table)
• … just to name some examples …
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(3)
How to safeguard system advantages while
allowing for fair competition
• Although EU Directive only ask for a separation of essential functions,
EU policy is leading in some countries to a very complex structure
(e.g. Slovenia)
• Some countries separate infrastructure from operations although no
competition on tracks takes place or is actively supported
(e.g. Finland)
• In Germany the market is completely open since 1994, more than 200
external operators - the system is still integrated
• Final remark: in other network industries (telecommunications,
electricity) only functional separation
It is possible to organise competition in different ways, but it is difficult
to safeguard the system advantages in a separated environment
The Voice of European Railways
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(4)
Other needs to realise the sufficient framework
Infrastructure as key for future development of the rail mode
•
•
•
•
Reduce bottlenecks
Build new lines
Dedicated Freight Network / Priority Network
Harmonize investments on rail infrastructure between EU
Member States at European level
Taking into account the long time delays for
infrastructure investments
=> Decisions have to be taken now !
The Voice of European Railways
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Develop Rail Infrastructure
Dedicated network in Germany
Rostock
Priority network
Hamburg
Separation of fast and slower trains and
Harmonisation of speed
Bremen
Berlin
HannoverWolfsburg
Magdeburg
Düsseldorf
Dortmund
Halle
Leipzig
Kassel
Dresden
Erfurt
Köln
Frankfurt/M
Lines for trains with high speed
Lines for trains with lower speed
Würzburg
Nürnberg
Mannheim
Saarbrücken
Karlsruhe
Important other lines
Stuttgart
München
In planning phase
Basel
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BETUWE-Line
• 160 km new freight line
• 25 tons axle load
• 120 km/h design speed
• Capacity: 10 trains/h per direction
• ERTMS level 2
• Early 2007 in operation
• approximately 4 billion Euro
investment costs
The Voice of European Railways
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CER Corridor Programme 2003
3 corridors analysed.
3 action plans developed
involving RUs, IMs and States
Iberian Peninsula – Ukraine
Iberian Peninsula – Germany (Slovakia)
Benelux – Italy via Luxemburg
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(4)
Other needs to realise the sufficient framework
Comparable framework conditions between modes of transport
- unbalanced assignment of cost to road and rail
• Infrastructure charging (Eurovignette revision)
weak points
(1) insufficient inclusion of external costs
(2) unclear definition of cross-modal financing options
• The expected Framework Directive on Cross-Modal Charging &
Financing has been abandoned !
• Energy taxation
• VAT question
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In conclusion:
The need for simultaneous action
In order to bring rail in a position to reach the targets,
three conditions have to be met at the same time
(1) improve railways’ performance to meet market
requirements (task by the railways)
(2) establish fair framework conditions for all competing modes
(task for politics)
(3) develop the necessary rail infrastructure so that the expected
growth in transport demand can be accomplished (task for MS/EU)
This means: EU Commission / Parliament / Council, national
governments and railway undertakings must act according to
their responsibilities without waiting for one another!
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