Public hearing: Committee of

Transport and Tourism

Brussels 7 May 2013

Newcomer´s perspective

- 1 -

The Fourth Railway Package – public hearing – Brussels 7 may 2013

- leather seats

- 4 Bistros

- Free WiFi

- 4 to 10 Stewardesses / Stewards per train

- 2 -

WESTbahn – facts

- house-tariff tickets: valid for 1 year

- refund, exchanges for free

- passenger charter (-25/50%) compensation for delays automatically credited ticket = coupon

- route: Vienna – Linz – Salzburg – Freilassing

- timetable 2013: about 3,16 million train kilometers

- almost hourly traffic

- 7 trains sets – double-deck – 501 seats; 200km/h

WESTbahn - expectancy before market entry

- 3 -

fair chance for invest payback

fair competition

non-discriminatory conditions

WESTbahn – report

traffic permit & security certificate – in time, done

Vehicle homologation

in Switzerland – cross acceptance Austria

(no automatic recognition of safety engineering in Germany)

first WESTbahn timetable

concept phase – outlook: travel time 2:45 Vienna – Salzburg

first timetable offer: travel time 3:00; including a stop of 8 min (overtaking by ÖBB PV AG)

regulatory proceeding in august 2011: settlement reached

most trains travel time: 3:00

current timetable 2013

path allocation coached by regulator (2012) – fast compromise reached

customer view: 4 long-distance trains departing/arriving from/to Vienna within 20 min – afterwards 40 min no service suboptimal result for the customer

WESTbahn – report

competitive environment

March 2010: amendment in the Austrian Federal Procurement act to allow direct awards over 100.000€ for public rail services

February 2011: direct award retroactively from 4/2010 given to ÖBB-PV AG

for 71,1 million train kilometers (timetable 2011) = nearly 80% of all local and long-distance services of ÖBB-PV AG

Long-distance trains from Vienna-Salzburg are not part of the direct award

WESTbahn started legal actions: pending at supreme administrative court

current: new direct awards last announcement for direct award 3/2013: Linz-Graz for IC-trains to ÖBB-PV AG; starting from 12/2013 ( today served by WESTbus-offer)

pricing:

Three months before market entry of WESTbahn; new national offer from ÖBB-PV AG starting from 9€

After annual price increase between 2005-2009 from mid 2009 to today: just one price increase mid 2012

WESTbahn: complaint before the federal competition authority

- 5 -

Trains Vienna-Salzburg-Innsbruck-Switzerland: from Salzburg westwards with subsidies

WESTbahn – report

- 6 -

Infrastructure-usage fee:

since 2012 strong increase – before: yearly small increase

regulator initiated a proceeding

Direct award to ÖBB-PV AG for nearly 80% of all regional-and long-distance train services includes the clause that additional infrastructure usage fees will be refunded by the state

Non predictable costs high risk for newcomers to fail economically.

WESTbahn – report

operative settlement

few problems (sometimes local and after interruptions in the line security system)

infrastructure: timetable information, platform information, announcement of trains,..

non-discriminatory train management on the line

customer information and promotion:

real-time data no access was granted WESTbahn regulatory proceeding resulted in a question and predecision of European Court of Justice in the meanwhile: access to the data has been granted by ÖBB-Infrastructure

positioning of WESTbahn-promoters in the railway stations: at the beginning ÖBB Infrastructure fixed small sections to move/stand (1 x 1m); Security monitoring, high cost allocation for WESTbahn (regulator: different to ÖBB-PV AG) regulatory proceeding: ÖBB Infrastructure position was refused – now free access – free movement in the stations

timetable and price-info-columns: first ÖBB Infrastructure approved only 50% of all ordered places in railway stations regulatory proceeding: a few days before decision meeting of the commission; all locations approved

contracts with advertising companies imposed a ban on WESTbahn orders for station advertising intervention of regulator: changed contracts

- 7 -

with regulator help

WESTbahn – report

essential facilities:

WESTbahn timetable integration in ÖBB-PV AG system “Scotty”

after antitrust proceeding: WESTbahn was integrated

ticketing-link still refused

timetable 2013, 2014 – path allocation

timetable 2013: Regulator coaching from the beginning - compromise

timetable 2014: currently smooth handling

competition issues outside of the scope of the 4th railway package

transport associations in Austria

old contracts - for example in Salzburg - allow the incumbents (rail and bus) the exclusion of newcomers up to four years from the normal revenue sharing

account payments: long delays

financing: Eurofima with state guarantee financing versus free market financing for the newcomer

- 8 -

WESTbahn – expectation versus reality

- 9 -

further improvements in non-discriminatory culture required

support of regulator is essential – more competences needed for regulatory bodies

private investors need predictable conditions unpredictable infrastructure cost development kills businessplans

Customer-oriented timetable - even with competition (not 4 trains in 20 minutes – 0 trains in 40 minutes).