The Fourth Railway Package – public hearing – Brussels 7 may 2013

Public hearing: Committee of Transport and Tourism

Brussels 7 May 2013

Newcomer´s perspective

-1 - WESTbahn – facts

- leather seats - 4 Bistros - Free WiFi - 4 to 10 Stewardesses / Stewards per train

- route: – Linz – – Freilassing - house-tariff tickets: valid for 1 year - timetable 2013: about 3,16 million train refund, exchanges for free kilometers - passenger charter (-25/50%)  - almost hourly traffic - compensation for delays automatically - 7 trains sets – double-deck – 501 seats; credited  ticket = coupon 200km/h

-2 - WESTbahn - expectancy before market entry

fair chance for invest payback fair competition non-discriminatory conditions

-3 - WESTbahn – report

traffic permit & security certificate – in time, done Vehicle homologation  in Switzerland – cross acceptance (no automatic recognition of safety engineering in Germany) first WESTbahn timetable   concept phase – outlook: travel time 2:45 Vienna – Salzburg  first tim etable 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 Trains Vienna-  for 71,1 million train kilometers (timetable 2011) = nearly 80% of all local and Salzburg- long-distance services of ÖBB-PV AG Innsbruck-  Long-distance trains from Vienna-Salzburg are not part of the direct award Switzerland: from Salzburg  WESTbahn started legal actions: pending at supreme administrative court westwards with subsidies  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

-5 - WESTbahn – report

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 Non predictable costs  high risk train services includes the clause that for newcomers to fail economically. additional infrastructure usage fees will be refunded by the state

-6 - 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: with regulator help  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

-7 - 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 competit ion 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

-8 - WESTbahn – expectation versus reality

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).

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