Railway privatization
A railway privatization describes the package of measures for the privatization of a railway company .
Railway privatizations took place in many countries. Before deciding to privatize the railway, an attempt is made to weigh the advantages of a privately run company with the disadvantages of the return expectations of private investors. Excessive distributions in the form of dividends deprive the railway company of liquid capital and often lead to reduced investments.
Japan Railways is described and rated as a successful privatization in many ways . Railway privatization in Great Britain is often cited as a negative example in Germany . The railway privatization in New Zealand was reversed of 2008. The concrete form of rail privatization varied greatly in the respective countries and ranged from the capital privatization of an integrated company (New Zealand) to the almost complete dissolution of the existing structures and complete replacement by a tendering competition (Great Britain).
National
Germany
In the course of the rail reform in January 1994, Deutsche Bahn AG was converted into a private legal form (company), but remained in the possession of the state. The Deutsche Bahn is thus a state company (previously a federal authority). The plan was to later sell shares in the company to private investors. Parallel to this, the regionalization of local rail passenger transport took place from 1996 through the Regionalization Act . Since then, regional transport has been commissioned by the transport authority (mostly tendered; the practice of direct awarding of contracts to DB Regio, which had been practiced for many years, had to be largely abandoned in favor of tenders after the Abellio judgment of the BGH in 2011).
In the fall of 2004, the then DB Supervisory Board Chairman Michael Frenzel announced that he would reconsider the schedule for the company's IPO . The initial public offering as an integrated group (infrastructure and rail operations), which was planned until mid-2006, was postponed.
In November 2008, Deutsche Bahn was again to privatize capital, but with a different concept: Only the subsidiary DB Mobility Logistics AG with the passenger transport and logistics divisions should go public, so that the infrastructure would remain completely in public hands. However, due to the financial crisis from 2007 onwards , it was not implemented again.
Organizations that are part of the Alliance Rail for All are against the capital privatization of Deutsche Bahn AG . The documentary film Bahn unterm Hammer from 2007 presents examples of positive and negative developments in the course of rail privatization.
Various arguments are given in the discussion about rail privatization. Proponents of privatization state that more competition would lead to increased efficiency and thus better services for customers. The relief of the public budget is another reason to privatize the railway. In addition, privatization could cover the high capital requirements of Deutsche Bahn AG and thus finance necessary investments. Critics, on the other hand, argue that with privatization there are fewer opportunities for political influence and control and that subsidies can therefore no longer be controlled. A decline in unprofitable regional traffic would be a possible consequence. The railroad as a means of transport, consisting of goods, local and long-distance passenger transport, requires a high level of coordination and cooperation, which may not be guaranteed in the intense competition between the providers, which would consequently lead to uncoordinated timetables and inefficiencies.
The Monopolies Commission recommended in a Special Report in September 2009 to privatize the transport company Deutsche Bahn as soon as possible. In this way, fair competitive conditions for access to the infrastructure for quality and price competition on the part of the railways and for the benefit of consumers could be created.
Great Britain
With the Railways Act 1993 drafted by the major government, it was decided to split up the former state-owned company British Rail .
structure
The infrastructure fell to Railtrack, which was floated on the stock exchange in 1996 . In contrast to other countries, passenger transport was not capitalized, but around 25 franchises were advertised for long-distance and local transport, for which railway companies ( Train Operating Companies , TOC) could apply. In order to enable the rolling stock to be transferred when the franchises are put out to tender, three so-called rolling stock companies (ROSCO) were formed which rent rolling stock to the EVU. Other British Rail businesses, such as BR Business Systems (now part of Atos ), have been sold to private sector companies.
After a series of spectacular accidents in the late 1990s and early 2000s due to a lack of train control systems (including in Ladbroke Grove ) and poor maintenance of the infrastructure (including in Hatfield ), Railtrack was facing bankruptcy. The rail network has therefore been operated since 2002 by the newly founded state company Network Rail . The level of safety is now comparable to that of the French and German railways.
The franchises are put out to tender every seven to twenty years. When changing the franchise, all employees except executive employees are taken over (so-called transfer of operations / TUPE). There is a uniform booking and tariff system as well as a common timetable system (RJIS, Rail Journey Information System), which are managed by the Association of Railway Companies, the Rail Delivery Group . The UK railways now have one of the youngest wagon fleets in Europe; many providers offer internet access.
rating
Rail privatization in Great Britain is often cited as a negative example in the German media. However, there are also observers who give positive assessments and point to increased passenger numbers and lower costs, as well as emphasizing the advantages of separating network and operation in terms of competition and passenger information.
The EU Commission has given the British model a role model for successful market opening. This applies to the uniform national booking system with consistent tariffs and fair distribution of income, the independent state regulation by the Office of Rail Regulation , the neutral and impartial distribution system, and the neutral passenger information at train stations.
Japan
The loss-making state-owned company Japanese National Railways (JNR) was restructured in 1987 and Japan Railways was formed from it.
The JR Group consists of six regional companies for passenger transport, as well as a subsidiary each for freight transport, research and development, and information technology. Three of the six regional companies (JR Central, JR East, JR West) went public in the 1990s, the other companies are state-owned.
A uniform tariff and a uniform booking system (MARS, Multi Access Reservation System) are operated by the entire JR Group.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Railway privatization in England a terrible failure. Article at 3sat.de, September 20, 2006
- ↑ Tim Engartner, The Privatization of Deutsche Bahn - On Implementing Market-Oriented Transport Policy , 2008, p. 270.
- ↑ Unsuccessful privatization. New Zealand nationalizes the railways again. , Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 5, 2008
- ↑ BGH, Abellio Rail v. Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr, decision of February 8, 2011 - X ZB 4/10 (Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court) = NZBau 2011, 175.
- ↑ IPO notification postponed . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 11/2004, ISSN 1421-2811 , p. 482.
- ↑ Should the Deutsche Bahn be privatized? 2015, TU Darmstadt, tuprints, accessed on September 11, 2015.
- ↑ Monopolies Commission presents a special report on the competitive situation on the railway markets ( Memento of March 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 227 kB). Press release of the Monopolies Commission of September 21, 2009.
- ^ Railway safety campaigns. In: networkrail.co.uk. Retrieved October 16, 2018 .
- ↑ RAIL Magazine, Issue 658 (December 1, 2010), p. 43.
- ^ National Rail Inquiries - WiFi Facilities
- ↑ Example: Nadine Lange, Motherland of Capitalism, Tagesspiegel, January 5, 2011
- ^ Sonja Lindenberg: Experiment rail privatization . Deutsche Welle, May 11, 2006.
- ↑ Maximilian Yang, Contracting Out - The Privatization of the British Railway System and its Implications for Germany , in: GreifRecht 2013, pp. 15–24.
- ↑ Joachim Kemnitz / Rainer Engel, Great Britain: Separation gets rail going, derFahrgast 4/2007, pp. 13–18 (PDF; 442 kB)
- ↑ ATOC, Britain's rail industry praised as one for Europe to emulate ( Memento from May 2, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), October 14, 2010.
- ↑ See Charles Weathers, Restructuring labor unions in Japan's National Railways , Japanese Studies (Volume 12, Issue 3, 1992), p. 19.
- ^ JR Systems, Core Services , accessed April 8, 2013.