Bratislava Rača – Trnava Railway Upgrade in Slovakia
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March 2011 | Frontier Economics, Atkins, ITS 1 Appendix 9 – Bratislava Rača – Trnava Railway Upgrade in Slovakia 9.1 Introduction 9.1.1 Project overview This project covers the modernisation and upgrade of the railway link between Bratislava (Rača) to Trnava – approximately 40km of track in a north-easterly direction out of Bratislava. The main objective of the project was modernising the electrified line and to support speeds of up to 160 km/h. The scheme also was implemented to increase safety on the line, and to comply with EU interoperability requirements. The project included line and track works, as well as upgrades to a number of stations along the alignment to meet these objectives. Location The rail link forms part of the Trans-European Network (TEN-T). It is situated on Corridor Va. This corridor links Bratislava to Košice across Slovakia. The section under consideration forms part of Priority Axis No. 23. The figure below shows the location of the project in both a local and European context. Appendix 9 – Bratislava Rača – Trnava Railway Upgrade in Slovakia 2 Frontier Economics, Atkins, ITS | March 2011 Figure 1. Bratislava Rača to Trnava rail upgrades Source: Openstreetmap.org Description During the period 2000-2006, ISPA assisted the Slovak Republic with assistance for transport infrastructure projects identified as a priority to the EU. This case study reports on the following rail subprojects which were financed through ISPA. 2000/SK/16/P/PT/001 - Modernisation of the Rail Track Bratislava Rača to Šenkvice – This subproject included the upgrade of rail track between Bratislava Rača and Šenkvice. 2001/SK/16/P/PT/003 - Modernisation of the Rail Track Šenkvice to Cífer and Stations Bratislava Rača to Trnava – Work on this section included the upgrade of rail track between Šenkvice and Cífer and improvements to rail stations Bratislava Rača, Svaty Jur, Pezinok, Šenkvice, Bahon, Cífer and Trnava. The rail section between Cífer and Trnava (approximately 6 km) was previously upgraded using private resources. However, due to further upgrades to the stations at Cífer and Trnava, the upgrades on this section of line have been included as part of this evaluation. This notwithstanding, as the costs had already Appendix 9 – Bratislava Rača – Trnava Railway Upgrade in Slovakia March 2011 | Frontier Economics, Atkins, ITS 3 been incurred (“sunk cost”), we have not considered them further in this evaluation. The rate of ISPA assistance for the two projects varied. The assistance for the Rača to Šenkvice project (2000/SK/16/P/PT/001) was €30.7m, 67% of the total eligible cost of the project (€46.2m). The assistance for the Šenkvice to Cífer project and station improvements (2001/SK/16/P/PT/003) was €58.4m, 50% of the total eligible cost of the project (€116.9m). The total assistance is 55% of the total eligible costs, but due to the overspend on the project (particularly the latter scheme), this equates to 42% of the outturn scheme costs. In 2008 prices the ISPA contributions equate to €101.8m. 9.1.2 Context The project we have evaluated for this case study form part of a wider plan of the Ţeleznice Slovenskej Republiky (henceforth ŢSR) – the Slovak infrastructure rail authority – to upgrade the full Va Corridor (Bratislava – Ţilina – Košice – Ukraine border). This is to support the movement of both passenger and freight across the Slovak Republic and Europe. ŢSR has since submitted further applications for funding for Corridor Va, in order to complete the full link between Bratislava and Ţilina. These projects are at various implementation stages. Socio-economic context The Application for Funding for this project was submitted prior to the Slovak Republic signing the Accession Treaty with the EU in 2003. At the time, the railway sector in Slovakia needed to undertake major efforts to develop its facilities, technologies, operations and organisational structures to reach the level of the modern, well developed railway systems of Western Europe. The project links into Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia where many headquarters of financial and business institutions are based. Most of the project is located in the Bratislava region, the wealthiest region in Slovakia, despite being the smallest. It accounts for about a quarter of the Slovak GDP. The remainder of the project is located in the Trnava region, home to a number of global manufacturing firms including Peugeot, Citroën and Samsung. The project also passes along the Váh river valley at the base of the Carpathian Mountains, between the High and Low Tatras. These mountain ranges are popular tourist resorts in Slovakia for summer and winter sports. Additionally, the towns of Rača and Pezinok are located at the foot of the Little Carpathian Range, an important wine production region. Appendix 9 – Bratislava Rača – Trnava Railway Upgrade in Slovakia 4 Frontier Economics, Atkins, ITS | March 2011 Strategic policy context The modernisation of this railway section is in line with the main priorities of the Slovak Government and of the Ministry of Transport, Posts and Communications. The Slovak railway system prior to this project showed mass deterioration, resulting in the railway becoming less attractive to traveller. This made rail less competitive, leading to more people travelling by road. The overall objective of the measure is to provide adequate access to the Trans- European Transport Network, particularly for rail freight, which accounted for 85% of international freight in the Slovak Republic in 2006.1 It was therefore important to modernise services for cross-border traffic on the main railway AGTC line. The project is included within the “ISPA National Strategy” and the “National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis” (NPAA) which the Slovak Republic adopted. As noted in the Application Forms, the specific objectives of the project are: to increase safety and railway infrastructure reliability; to improve speeds, comfort and attractiveness of the railway, making it more competitive in the transport market; to reduce the operating and maintenance costs in the railway sector; to ensure that the quality of the rail infrastructure will not decompose to a situation where present operation levels cannot be maintained; and, to fulfil demand for interoperability and international standards. 9.1.3 Sources We have used a number of different data sources for this review. We present them below. Project documentation We have obtained several documents relevant to this project . These are listed in the table below, together with their source. 1 This figure is taken from a DG Regio study on “Strategic Evaluation on Transport Investment Priorities under Structural and Cohesion funds for the Programming Period 2007-2013”. Appendix 9 – Bratislava Rača – Trnava Railway Upgrade in Slovakia March 2011 | Frontier Economics, Atkins, ITS 5 Table 1. Summary of project-related documentation Document Obtained From EC Application for Assistance (with technical appendices) DG REGIO Modernisation of the Rail Track Bratislava Rača to Šenkvice (March 2000) Modernisation of the Rail Track Šenkvice – Cífer and Stations Rača – Trnava (March 2001) EC Commission Decisions DG REGIO Modernisation of the Rail Track Bratislava Rača to Šenkvice (December 2000) Modernisation of the Rail Track Šenkvice – Cífer and Stations Rača – Trnava (December 2001) Financing Memorandum DG REGIO Modernisation of the Rail Track Bratislava Rača to Šenkvice (December 2000) Modernisation of the Rail Track Šenkvice – Cífer and Stations Rača – Trnava (December 2001) Final Report DG REGIO and ŽSR Modernisation of the Rail Track Bratislava Rača to Šenkvice (March 2008) Modernisation of the Rail Track Šenkvice – Cífer and Stations Rača – Trnava (March 2010) Primary and secondary data As part of a comprehensive data collection exercise, we sourced the following data listed in Table 2. Appendix 9 – Bratislava Rača – Trnava Railway Upgrade in Slovakia 6 Frontier Economics, Atkins, ITS | March 2011 Table 2. Summary of project-related documentation Data Pre-project opening Post-project opening Project costs Predicted project costs are Outturn project costs are contained including (opex contained in the EC Application for in the Final Report submitted by and capex) Assistance Forms for each ŽSR to DG REGIO following subsection of the project completion of the project. Forecast operating and maintenance costs supplied by ŽSR. Parameter Parameter values used in pre- Updated parameter values such as values project predictions were abstracted the value of time were obtained from from the Application for Assistance the Ministry for Transport, Posts and Forms – primarily found within the Telecommunications and ŽSR. In technical appendices. the absence of updated local values HEATCO guidance was applied. Rail demand Pre-project rail demand forecasts Post-opening passenger and freight are included in the Application for counts have been obtained from the Assistance document – primarily ŽSR for the full network and on the within the technical appendices. section Bratislava Rača to Trnava. Passenger and freight counts and Updated rail demand forecasts are operational information are included included within the Final Report. as detailed by the ŽSR. Highway Pre-project highway data is included Post-opening highway classified demand within the Application for Assistance flows have been obtained for the document. Pre-project classified same section as the pre-opening, on flows on the E75 (parallel road) the E75 for the post-opening period. have been obtained from the NDS. Stakeholder meetings In addition to the data collection exercise, and to help understand the mechanisms of the project, we have discussed the project with the following stakeholders. Železnice Slovenskej Republiky (ŽSR) – Slovakian rail infrastructure manager. This meeting was held on the morning of 6th July 2010 in the ŢSR head offices in Bratislava Bratislava Regional Chamber of Commerce. This meeting was held on the afternoon of 6th July 2010 in the Chamber of Commerce offices in Bratislava. Národná diaľničná spoločnosť, a.s (NDS) – Slovakian motorway company. This meeting was held on the morning of 7th July 2010 in the NDS offices in Bratislava.