Jančura agreed with the Minister of Transport to compete on other tracks
Radim Jančura, owner of RegioJet, is satisfied after the meeting with the new Minister of Transport Zbyněk Stanjura. In their own words, they have similar views with Stanjura. They are useful, for example, in the fact that Czech Railways should not sell land under the tracks. According to Jančura, the Minister also wants to make the subsidization of express trains more transparent and to compete with other express lines.
During the debate with the Minister, Radim Jančura agreed on the gradual opening of domestic railways to private carriers. This should be done by removing subsidies from high-speed lines, which can be run without subsidies. According to Jančura, it is mainly a track from Břeclav via Brno and Prague to Ústí nad Labem, on which RegioJet would like to start business without subsidies from 2014. However, Jančura demands the departure of the current operator, Czech Railways, after the entry of RegioJet.
“If there is an interest in Czech Railways running on this line even after the entry of RegioJet, let them lose their subsidies now,” said Jančura. He is to meet with the Minister again in two weeks on this subject.
So far, the only competition on subsidized express trains is the Ostrava-Olomouc-Krnov line. At the same time, it was recently revealed that this is the most loss-making route, on which the state pays 225 crowns for each kilometer traveled.
The most lossy express connections in the Czech Republic in 2010:
Order | Line route | Loss per 1 km of train running (in crowns) | Absolute loss of the line in 2010 (in millions of crowns) |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Ostrava – Opava – Krnov – Olomouc | 225 | 157 |
2. | Prague – Kladno – Rakovník | 186 | 74 |
3. | Prague – Mladá Boleslav – Turnov – Tanvald | 165 | 101 |
4. | Prague – Beroun – Pribram – Pisek – Ceske Budejovice | 160 | 154 |
5. | Kolín – Mladá Boleslav – Česká Lípa – Rumburk | 159 | 92 |
6. | Pardubice – Jihlava | 153 | 27 |
7. | Ústí nad Labem – Česká Lípa – Liberec | 140 | 89 |
8. | (Germany-) Děčín – Ústí nad Labem – Prague – Pardubice – Brno – Břeclav (-Austria / Slovakia) | 139 | 625 |
9. | Brno – Jihlava – Ceske Budejovice – Plzen | 139 | 290 |
10. | (Austria / Slovakia -) Břeclav – Otrokovice – Přerov – Ostrava (- Poland) | 138 | 105 |
Source: Ministry of Transport, Czech Railways
Czech Railways and the Ministry of Transport have long opposed the publication of subsidies. That should end now, he promises after a meeting with Transport Minister Radim Jančura.
The state does not want land under the tracks
After meeting with Jančura, the Minister of Transport also stated that the state would not buy billions of crowns from Czech Railways under the tracks. These are plots of land that the railways acquired free of charge and wanted to sell them for eight to 12 billion crowns, said Jančura, who has long criticized ČD’s plan.
“We are looking for a way to do it differently from the model that has been here in previous years, ie by selling at an estimated or market price,” said Stanjura. According to him, the ministry is examining all the possibilities and believes that several of them will be found. The minister will then present these possible solutions to the government, because according to him this is a broader issue that should be decided by the cabinet. In the past, for example, he stated that he was considering the possibility of transferring land under a special law.
The head of the Regiojet praised the current initiative of the new minister. “These are plots of land under the dormitories, so completely worthless plots of land that the state would buy back,” Jančura said. However, according to him, Czech Railways wanted to sell for eight to twelve billion crowns in the past.
On the issue of asset management, Czech Railways has long held the view that all assets must be sold at a market price, which will be appreciated by an independent expert, said company spokesman Radek Joklík. He pointed out that the railway representative was not present at today’s meeting between Minister Stanjura and the owner of the rival RegioJet, and that he therefore did not know the content of the meeting or its conclusions.
Read more about Radim Jančura’s fight with Czech Railways: