By F. Zois
[email protected]
The state-run Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), which previously operated and exploited all railways activities in the country, is reportedly eyeing an increase in network fees ahead of a memorandum-mandated liberalization of the sector in Greece.
Currently, fees reach 1.05 euros per kilometer, with OSE pointing to "reasonable" increases and "compatible frameworks". The state-run company’s officials also claimed that fees were too low in comparison to Community standards – a view that emerged in the wake of a successful tender to privatize Trainose last year. The latter is the rail operator.
OSE officials maintain that current fees are calculated in an "arbitrary manner" by Trainose, which was awarded last year to Italy's Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. (FS), the winner of an international tender. FD was the sole bidder in the tender, with a binding offer reaching 45 million euros.
The Greek state’s privatization fund last July announced the bid for a 100-percent stake in Trainose, the state-run company that comprised the only passenger and freight rail operator in the country.
User fees, in addition to an annual state subsidy of 45 million euros that is paid out by state coffers, are the second biggest source of income for OSE. The company lost revenue when a rolling stock maintenance subsidiary was rendered as an independent entity ahead of privatization, the Hellenic Company for Rolling Stock Maintenance S.A. (EESSTY). OSE was also deprived of revenue when it lost the right to lease rolling stock, another operation that was shifted to a different state-run entity.
Rail user fees in 2016 reached 15 million euros, and almost exclusively paid by Trainose. A very small portion of the fees was paid by yet another state-run holding company managing fixed rail mass transit in the greater Athens area (STASY).
Forecasts for greater revenue comes from the expected operation of two new rail cargo shippers in Greece – Goldair Rail Cargo and Pearl – as well as a promised increase in routes by a FS-managed Trainose.
