News
Alignment revealed for Austrian HS line
published plans for a 250km/h line to link Salzburg and Köstendorf to relieve congestion on the parallel Salzburg - Vienna main line and provide an alternative to the tortuous Salzburg - Steindorf section. Much of the 20km line will be underground to assuage local opposition to ÖBB’s original proposals. The total cost is estimated at
A
French competition authorities have found open-access freight operators including Euro Cargo Rail fell victim to discriminatory practices by SNCF in the early years of liberalisation. Photo: Quintus Vosman
SNCF fined €60.9m for anti-competitive behaviour F
OLLOWING a four-year investigation, the French competition authority has fined French National Railways (SNCF) ƒ60.9m for anti-competitive practices following a string of complaints raised by open- access railfreight operators in 2008 and 2009.
The authority says that
Fret SNCF engaged in several practices that hindered or delayed the entry of new operators into the railfreight sector, and a fine has been issued for two separate offences, with an injunction for a third transgression. The authority found that SNCF used confidential information, gathered in its role as delegated infrastructure manager, for commercial purposes. Through its rivals’ requests for train paths or visits to specific locations, SNCF knows which competitors have bid for particular contracts, the paths used, train lengths, tonnages, schedules, and traffic origin and destination points. This was confirmed following dawn raids by competition authority officials on Fret SNCF offices. The authority discovered that in some cases, Fret SNCF had aligned its market strategy with freight flows which were specifically targeted by its
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rivals, even contacting customers to ask why they were switching operators. The information was also used to define its commercial strategy for specific regions or certain types of freight, and to develop “aggressive and targeted commercial offers”. SNCF says the creation of the independent directorate for rail traffic (DCF) means adequate safeguards are now in place to ensure such data is handled confidentially. The second offence concerns attempts to prevent competitors from accessing the network. The authority ruled that Fret SNCF restricted access to yards for new entrants and deliberately engaged in a policy of overbooking train paths so that some operators were unable to bid for contracts or honour those they had already won. This practice forced some operators to resort to alternative solutions which degraded the quality of services proposed to shippers and increased their costs. In 2006, when the French
railfreight market was first liberalised, SNCF also overbooked high-capacity EX wagons to restrict their availability to other operators. This forced ECR and Colas Rail to use lower-performance wagons until they were able to acquire their own EX wagons
in 2008, and allowed SNCF to retain aggregate customers who contemplated switching to other operators.
In addition, the authority found SNCF had engaged in predatory pricing and operated some services at below-cost prices to artificially prevent competitors from entering the market. In 2007, Fret SNCF was offering prices as low as 20% of those of new entrants, cutting rates for its most profitable flows at a time when the freight unit was facing heavy and recurring losses. However, the authority has issued an injunction rather than a financial penalty. This requires SNCF to establish an analytical accounting system within 18 months to identify precisely the costs incurred by its trainload freight business. Prices for trainload services must also cover their operating costs within three years. Eight of the 13 complaints
were not upheld, including a charge that it poached staff and engaged in discriminatory leasing practices.
In a statement issued on December 18, SNCF said it will carry out a detailed review of the authority’s decision and says that many of the complaints relate
exclusively to the period 2006- 2008 and could not be repeated under the current structure.
ƒ1.65bn and ÖBB hopes to start construction in 2024. However, an earlier start date is possible if the province of Salzburg agrees to provide a share of the funding. Completion of the project in 2032 will result in a five- minute reduction in journey times for long-distance trains and release capacity for a more frequent Salzburg - Steindorf S-Bahn service. ÖBB also plans to lay a third track between Köstendorf and Steindorf.
Aurizon set for expansion in NSW
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OLLOWING the signing of a 12-year agreement with Whitehaven Coal, Aurizon (formerly QR National) is set to significantly expand its coal operation in New South Wales from 2014. The contract covers the movement of up to 16 million tonnes of coal per year from mines in the Gunnedah Basin to the Port of Newcastle from four loading sites, including the new Maules Creek project, which is in the final stages of its approval process. Aurizon will invest up to
$A 280m ($US 294m) in the state, in addition to its already-planned $A 110m train maintenance facility at Hexham in the Hunter Valley which will support the new fleet. Maules Creek is one of the
largest coal deposits in Australia with 362 million tonnes of recoverable reserves. Subject to the timely delivery of all necessary approvals, it is expected that coal production will commence in 2014, with forecast volumes exceeding 10 million tonnes per year.
IRJ February 2013
USTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) has
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