Liberalisation of the railway sector:
will it shift more traffic to rail?
Franz Greil
Arbeiterkammer Wien
Railway Equipment Manufacturing - ad-hoc WG EESC
building, Salle JDE 61, Brussels
23 Nov 2015
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About Arbeiterkammer (AK)
represents 3.3 million employees
and consumers in Austria
self-governing body regulated by public
law
main tasks:
•
•
•
think-thank for Trade Unions
participation in and control of
legislation
services to members
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Policy Issues
Shift2Rail
Fourth Railway Package
Liberalisation and Competition in the rail
sector
The Potential for Modal Shift
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Shift2Rail
Objectives of Shift2Rail:
removal of technical obstacles in terms of
interoperability in the European Railway
Area
enhance the attractiveness and
competitiveness of the European railway
system to ensure a modal shift towards rail
support for the European rail industry to
retain leadership on the global market
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Shift2Rail
AK criticized the role of the S2R-joint
undertaking on:
defining technical standards without
legitimation and public involvement
circumventing the European Railway
Agency
no representation of Trade Unions at JTIBoard
F&E expenditure ignores the needs of the
railway staff
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Fourth Railway Package
EU-Commission proposals in 2013 on
simplified procedures on rail safety and
interoperability
governance on rail infrastructure manager
market opening for domestic passenger
rail transport
competitive tendering for Public Service
Obligations contracts
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Fourth Railway Package
Outcome of (ongoing) negociations between
EP and Council
Agreement already achieved in June 2014
on the „technical pillar“ (rail safety,
interoperability, European Rail Agency)
Political agreement on the „market pillar“
expected for march 2016
Direct Award and Public service
obligations for transport of passengers?
Infrastructure manager remains unchanged
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Liberalisation and Competition
in the Rail sector
Motivation of the EU-Commission
No choice for customers
No efficient use of public money
No sufficient quality in railway services
To stop the decline of the rail sector
Be aware of the legal competences of the
Commission and the European Union!
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Liberalisation Index
Source: IBM-Deutschland/Humboldt-University Berlin, 2011
The Rail Liberalisation Index provides information on the relative
market opening of the railways in the European Union and other
countries in 2011.
The index includes information on freight transport and
passenger transport (public service, commercial service)
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Liberalisation Index
Among the group of “advanced market opening” (800-1.000 points) are:
Sweden (872) , United Kingdom (865) , Germany (842) , (Denmark 825) , The
Netherlands (817) , Austria (806)
In the group “market opening on schedule” (600-799 points) are:
Belgium (753) , Switzerland (714) , Czech Republic (738) , Slovakia (738) , Portugal
(737) , Poland (737) , Italy (737) , Estonia (729) , Norway (729) , Romania (726) ,
Bulgaria (718) , Finland (672) , Slovenia (672) , Hungary (658) , France (612)
In the group of “delayed market opening” (300-599 points) are:
Latvia (592) , Greece (592) , Lithuania (587) , Luxembourg (585) , Spain (583) ,
Ireland (467)
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Customer satisfaction
There is no correlation between the degree of liberalization (LIB-Index)
and customer satisfaction (Eurobarometer-Survey, Commission)!
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Customer satisfaction
Countries with a very low degree of liberalisation have
partly higher satisfaction scores than strongly liberalised
countries
(FR vs GER, LU vs ITA, ES vs BG)
There are also highly liberalised countries with a high
costumer satisfaction (AT, SE)
There are also countries with a low degree of liberalisation
and a high costumer satisfaction (CH, IRL)
A compelling connection between
liberalisation and customer satisfaction does
not exist!
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Competitive tendering
The cost for personal makes the difference!
Requirements for the rolling stock are identical for every
enterprise
Infrastructure costs are identical for every enterprise
Costs for energy are identical for every enterprise
Collective agreements do not provide
sufficient protection!
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Impact on Employees
Reduction of salary jumps
No collective agreements (eg in outsourcing) –
Wage reduction (up to 25% for new workers)
Lower wages in case of outsourcing
New entrants have lower wages
Reduction of bonuses
Trends of wage dumping
Immediate reduction of the basic salary are rare
New working time regime: flexibility, compression and extension
Growing intensification of work and stress
Individualization of employment: income insecurity
Introduction of precarious and atypical forms
Reduction of apprenticeships and further education
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Competitive Tendering and Award Criteria
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Compulsory Tendering leads to
Oligopolies
Nummer of Bidders (Germany)
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Market Share
Modal Split (Passenger) and index of liberalisation
There is no correlation between the
degree of liberalisation and the performance of the railways
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Market Shares
The Modal Split is the distribution of
transport volumes on different means of
transport (Road, Rail, Waterways,
Pipeline)
There is no correlation between the degree of liberalisation and the performance
of the railways:
France:
23th place at Liberalisation Index  + 3% in the modal split
Germany:
3rd place at Liberalisation Index  + 1% in the modal split
Czech Rep.
8th place at Liberalisation Index  decline in passengers
Hungary
19th place at Liberalisation Index  highest share
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Freight and Modal Shift
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Freight Transport in EU – Modal Split
Source: Eurostat
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Railways and Market Share in Europa
(Source: Eurostat, 2013)
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The Case for Modal Shift
The unequal level-playing field between Road
and Rail:
Enforcement of working times and periods
for rest
Fees for the use of infrastructure
Internalisation of external costs (accidents,
climate change, air pollution, etc)
Investment patterns for new infrastructure
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Comparison Rail-Road:
External Costs in Freight Transport
Source: EU-Handbook on external costs in transport
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Length of the Network
Source: EU-Transport in Figures
Road network and rail network EU-28 = 100%
Road
Rail
4.808.187 km
215.734 km
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Rail and Road:
Growth of Infrastructure Network
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The Real Potential for
Modal Shift in Freight
Success-Stories in Switzerland and Austria:
government assistance programmes for
connecting railways and terminals with
production sites (“Anschlussbahnen“)
in
shifts around 65% of total freight to rail
Austria!
for
total public investment of only 140 mio €
for the period 2007-2013!
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Thank you for your attention and
comments!
Franz Greil
Arbeiterkammer Wien
Prinz Eugen Straße 20-22, 1040 Vienna, Austria
Tel: (+43/1) 50165/2262
E-Mail: [email protected]
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