Railways in CEE countries – infrastructure investments Miroslaw Kanclerz Manager CEE

1. Railways in CEE countries – infrastructure investments Miroslaw Kanclerz Manager CEE

2. General overview (1) • years of underinvestment in infrastructure and rolling • stock • huge backlogs in maintenance and renewal • governments in most of the CEE countries place railways • at the end of the list of problems to be solved • road transport lobbies force decision makers to put • more money into roads than railways

3. General overview (2) • Media people create picture of costly, non-efficient and • needless railways systems • Generally railway systems need complex modernization • There is a real crisis in the financing of rail

4. Chances (1) • Accession of 10 + 2 new member countries vastly • extended European transport market • Railways as the most sustainable mode of transport • play more important role in the 12 new member countries • than in the old 15 • Level of car ownership (however it grows quite fast) • in “12” is still much lower than in “15”

5. Chances (2) • Large and growing ‘East-West’ traffic • EU promotes and supports development of sustainable • means of transport • EU “old” members understand that putting money mainly • into road infrastructure is a road to nowhere

6. Actions to be undertaken - external • Promote the idea of sustainable development • of transport modes (50/50) • Change the picture of railways • Find supporters within media and decision makers

7. Actions to be undertaken - internal • Obtain financial resources from governments • to co-finance infrastructure investments • Restructure own internal units which are responsible for • all stages of infrastructure modernization process • to use EU subsidies efficiently • Carefully decide which projects should be implemented • having in mind that over 50% of investment is in • maintenance

8. Today • Infrastructure managers in CEE take loans to find • resources necessary to obtain support from EU Funds • Such a situation is unacceptable in a long term • perspective • Railway infrastructure needs investments and … • investments

9. Conclusions (1) • The key to growth in the railway industry is continual • investment in infrastructure • The most modern rolling stock is of little use if • the infrastructure quality is poor • Only modernized rail networks can reduce travel times • to the point where they are able to compete with cars and • trucks

10. Conclusions (2) • The investment question is crucial for the expansion • and even survival of railways • To adopt Western European standards, Central • and Eastern Europe requires substantial increase in • the amount being spent on rail infrastructure

11. Best practices • Table II. Grants paid to Deutsche Bahn AG in 2005, €m • Numbers concerning infrastructure (examples) • Federal grants for infrastructure work paid from road access charges • through the Transport Infrastructure Finance Company - 332 • Federal grants for upgrading and modernizing equipment and • infrastructure of the former Deutsche Reichsbahn - 1092 • Federal grants under the Federal Railways Upgrading Law for • investment in new lines or upgrading, or for other investment in the • existing network - 4125 • Federal grants paid to eliminate temporary speed restrictions and fund • short-term signalling improvements - 49

12. Thank you for your attention