Not only Prague – Ostrava. Stanjura wants more unsubsidized tracks
The list of long-distance routes that run without subsidies on a purely commercial basis could soon grow. So far, only the Prague – Ostrava connection appears on it, which is now provided by three carriers. However, the new Minister of Transport, Zbyněk Stanjura, would like to get rid of other lines with subsidies.
“If twelve billion of public money is spent on rail transport today, the aim of which should be to lower that number. In order to save public funds and at the same time increase passenger comfort, “Stanjura answered the E15 question.
The ministry has not yet provided details. However, the efforts of the owner of the RegioJet railway company, Radim Jančura, who has been calling for a long time after the end of subsidies on the backbone line from Germany via Brno and Prague to Austria, are not without chances. Stanjur’s predecessor, Pavel Dobeš, recently rejected Jančur’s demands.
New minister will meet with the businessman tomorrow, reducing the subsidy umbrella will be one of the topics of conversation. The Prague – Brno line is most often mentioned among those where trains could be used without subsidies. However, the figures for 2010 show that 139 crowns per train kilometer run on the entire branch from the German to the Austrian border of Česká dráha. In total, this line cost the state over 600 million crowns a year.
But the question is whether the budget would save this amount. The railways do not receive subsidies according to individual lines, but receive a package of four billion crowns with an average of 120 crowns per train-kilometer. The Ministry must pay commercial carriers compensation for the discounts imposed, for example, on students. In addition, the state has no influence on the unsubsidized route in terms of the number of stops, for example.