Track Access Charging in Hungary 2022/23 20/01/22

Source (article in Hungarian) : http://hungrail.hu/2022/01/28/palyahalozat-hasznalat-a-valos-koltsegek/?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=Magyar+Vas%C3%BAt+II/1

Budapest,2022. 01. 20.- Hungarian Railways

MÁV and GYSEV carry out their infrastructure management activities with a slight profit, under strict management control, on the basis of a public service contract. Its costs should be borne primarily by the railway undertakings, including the distribution of charges according to the services used, based on the different train segments and line and station categories. However, the items thus obtained can be diverted by targeted state aid and have been diverted for years. Our writing shows how much it costs to train per train with and without public support.

• MÁV: 98.54 billion
• GYSEV: 7.766 billion

Reduction of the cost base of the relevant network access charges at the railway undertakings operating the infrastructure, in HUF, through the involvement of the state

Until the publication of the Network Statement 2022/23 (HÜSZ), the infrastructure managers did not send the notification of the state's participation to VPE Vasúti Pályakapacitás-elosztó Kft., Which prepared the Network Statement, as it had not been received from the Ministry by that date. Thus, the 2022/2023 HÜSZ appeared with a fee structure without state support, which spreads the total cost between the railway companies. Finally, in December, the “smoke went up”, the cost base of the relevant network access charges may decrease by HUF 98.54 billion on the MÁV network and by HUF 7.776 billion on the GYSEV network. However, state aid has not flowed evenly over individual tariffs, but its use has been defined by segment and category.

The Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM) provided HUF 145.4 billion to MÁV Zrt. And HUF 11.3 billion to Győr – Sopron – Ebenfurti Vasút Zrt. (GYSEV), stipulating that this amount can only be to be used to reduce the infrastructure charges so that the charges for the services of the freight transport sector in GYSEV's network (in relation to the total planned volume) do not change, and for MÁV to increase by three per cent compared to the current charge level, while remaining at this year's level. An additional condition is that electricity and fuel services for traction and non-traction are not eligible. So the use of overhead line systems and the operation of gas stations do, but electricity and diesel itself do not.

Tariffs without state support paint a rather bleak picture of the sustainability of low-traffic extension lines. The cost of a solo car running there on a line-kilometer basis is higher than that of Railjet and Regiojet trains on the Hegyeshalom line. The limited supply of timetables and the almost complete lack of freight make the operation of ancillary lines very expensive, and few trains have to bear a relatively high level of cost, even at low cost.

Another interesting feature is how significantly the fees of MÁV and GYSEV differ (especially without state support, see our table). Though, in principle, they both work in the same technical and regulatory environment, but for something, for some reason, they do it very differently. Nor can it be stated that GYSEV is clearly cheaper and more efficient than MÁV. For example, it would be worthwhile to hand over the operation of GYSEV's overhead line network to MÁV, where it is barely half of that, but it would be better for MÁV to operate MYV stations because they provide less - probably better quality. In fact, there is no charge with a similar cost price for the two infrastructure managers. This is definitely thought-provoking…

In addition to the general state subsidy for freight train transport (ie in addition to this charging system), there is a special subsidy for single car traffic, but since its beneficiaries are railway companies contracted separately with ITM and MÁV, so shunting freight trains also pay the track access fee me.

The documents taken into account for the calculation of the fee, as well as the table of all fee elements are available on the VPE's website in the Fee Calculation Document No. 1 of HÜSZ No. 2022/2023.

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