Slovakian government works with electric rail freight towards crisis solutions 29/12/22

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Source: https://transport.sk/logistika/buducnost-nakladnej-elektrickej-zeleznicnej/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=transport_a_logistika_weekly_news&utm_term=2023-01-05

 

he future of freight electric rail transport. The Association of Railway Carriers of Slovakia (AROS) has been drawing the attention of competent authorities to the critical state of our tracks for a long time. Objectively, however, it must be said that for the first time in the era of independent Slovakia, the railway infrastructure is finally starting to be modernized in a meaningful and, above all, planned way, according to the set schedule. However, the results of the improvement will be visible and noticeable after years and sometimes decades.

It is true that so far, millions and even billions of euros have been "poured" into the modernization and reconstruction of tracks and stations, and the effect is minimal. The travel culture has increased but the question remains what has been done for freight. Not as the executive director of AROS, but as a taxpayer, I ask how many goods have been moved from trucks to freight trains thanks to these funds.

Where are our commitments to transfer 30% of transport over 300 km from road to rail by 2030? While in 2011 the share of road vs. of rail transport in the total transport performance by 76 percent to 21 in favor of road transport, the difference is not decreasing gradually, but on the contrary - in 2020 it was already 80 to 18. It is being reconstructed, built, modernized and the number of trucks is increasing...

The future of freight electric rail transport

Since the situation can realistically improve only after a longer time, the immediate solution would be to reduce the fee for using the tracks. The Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic, in cooperation with our association, has prepared a new concept of railway charging so that the price is stable and predictable. However, the material is to be submitted to the Slovak government only in the first quarter of next year.

So we won't know the real price for 2023 until the end of this year (after all, like every year). Which is, of course, very late from the point of view of the long-term guarantee of the conditions of contracted transportation for our customers. Just to illustrate – 100% of the tracks are charged on the railway, i.e. every one kilometer. It is only 18% of sections on the road network.

Price - roofing - development

A big problem that began to emerge during the last year and has now graduated is the price of electricity. All carriers are dependent on a single supplier of electricity for the traction line, which is the Railways of the Slovak Republic, which will purchase it from their chosen supplier and deliver it to the traction network, so the carrier cannot yet procure electricity on its own at its own risk and responsibility. Since March 2022, SR Railways has been buying electricity on the stock exchange at hourly spot prices, due to the termination of the contract by the previous supplier, but fortunately this price is not transferred to us carriers until 12/31/2022, because we have a contractually guaranteed supply with ŽSR for approx. 140 euros/MWh.

From 1 January 2023, however, there will no longer be a fixed price for one year and we will also be guided by spot prices. ŽSR will find out the price of traction electricity for January 2023 around February 10, and they will charge this price with their own margin to carriers (all, passenger and freight). Fortunately, electricity prices are falling towards the end of the year, but for example, ŽSR paid their supplier approx. 498 euros/MWh for August and 395 euros/MWh for September. This is, of course, an enormous increase and will represent high additional costs for the entire railway sector, which will be very difficult to pass on (if at all) to customers.

So, without the help of the state, the railways simply cannot do it. And we are not talking about ecology. Should we switch to diesel? I don't know if there would be enough diesel locomotives in the whole of Europe if the railway companies stopped running on electricity. Price ceilings would also help for large companies, which ŽSR clearly is from the point of view of the only buyer and seller of traction electricity on the railways. And when setting up aid from the government, we ask to include the railway sector in the state's critical infrastructure. According to other developments in the situation, however, it looks like the government has no compensation plan for 2023 and the announced 40 mil. the euro for 2022 is just a drop in the ocean.

Ing. Patrik Benka, executive director of AROS

The future of freight electric rail transport

Non-existent support

Half a year ago in May, we drew attention to problems that are long-term on our railways and not ad-hoc immediate, as I have stated so far, by loudly driving locomotives on the Bratislava tracks. This is primarily due to the lack of a real transport policy of the state, the non-existent railway financing plan and the non-conceptual solution of prices for the use of rails - the non-existent support of ecological electric freight transport, although the price for rails represents an annual repeating series precisely because of the lack of a long-term concept.

However, it seems that the situation in the attitude of the competent authorities is beginning to change and some of our politicians are slowly becoming familiar with the fact that wagons without windows drive on the tracks, carry goods and there are several dozen freight carriers. Thanks to our initiative, which was also presented at the Committee of the NR SR for economic affairs and cooperation with the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the SR, we managed to enforce the establishment of an interdepartmental working group that will solve all the mentioned long-term challenges, and we optimistically hope for a better future for freight electric rail transport. Let's stop dreaming about hydrogen, batteries and similar energy sources when we have electrified lines built, which are already here, emission-free and without additional necessary costs.

Ing. Patrik BenkaPhoto: Metrans


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