Prihláste sa na odber noviniek
ZSSK CARGO is the only carrier in Slovakia that provides network-wide transport of single wagon loads (SWLs). It transports about 7 million tonnes of goods annually in this system.
With an average weight of 17.4 tonnes of cargo loaded on a truck, the transport of SWLs will prevent the realisation of about 400,000 truck journeys in a loaded condition per year, especially on 2nd to 3rd class roads. Considering that trucks are used on their way back at 60%, this represents about 640,000 truck journeys per year.
The SWLs segment, which employs around 2,200 employees, 180 locomotives and 4,500 freight wagons, is technologically, organisationally, personnel and capacity-wise more demanding than the transport of block trains due to its specificity of transport load creation.
The transport of SWLs as a system generates a loss for ZSSK CARGO. In the past, it was possible to make greater use of the synergies between the transport of SWLs and block trains, and these effects are now much lower. Since the liberalisation of the rail transport market, several new carriers have come into play, engaging, in fact, only in the transport of lucrative block trains. This means the percentage of cost-intensive transport of SWLs in the ZSSK CARGO transport volumes has been increasing. The recurrent declines or fluctuations in the transport of block trains due to the economic and financial crisis, the recession in the metallurgical industry and the global pandemic are not helping the situation.
Proposed measures
This year ZSSK CARGO has submitted to the Ministry of Transport proposals for measures that would enable carrying out the transport of single wagon loads in a sustainable manner. These measures concern rail freight as a whole and should not, therefore, be intended only for the national carrier. Subsidies or funds could be transparently applied for by all carriers that would meet the conditions for their allocation.
The proposed areas of support are based on the rules applied in several Member States of the European Union. Basically, these are the following four areas: an investment or subsidy to purchase modern diesel locomotives for shunting operations at stations and for the carriage of handling and specific route trains, a subsidy to cover losses incurred due to longer circulation of wagons during transport using the SWLs system, the third measure is a guaranteed discount for the use of railway infrastructure throughout the year and, last but not least, it is the introduction of an obligation for investors to set up a railway siding when building new industrial investments, such as industrial parks or manufacturing plants close to the railway infrastructure.
A subsidy for the purchase of locomotives
Within the SWLs system, the carrier must necessarily also use locomotives with independent tractive power, i.e. motor locomotives, both for the running of handling trains, shunting operations and the serving of handling points that are not under overhead lines and for the carriage of specific route trains between stations on non-electrified lines.
ZSSK CARGO has a lot of obsolete locomotives that have a high fuel consumption. For comparison, the average age of the 742-series motor traction locomotives is 39 years and that of the 751-series locomotives is 52 years. From a technical point of view, the locomotives used are unreliable, require considerable operating and repair reserves and represent a significant cost burden for ZSSK CARGO. The acquisition of new modern motor locomotives would bring a reduction in the necessary operating and repair reserves, and thus a significant reduction in the SWLs system costs.
Longer circulation of wagons
ZSSK CARGO, as the only carrier in Slovakia carrying out SWL shipments, uses freight wagons, most of which are leased. The rent equals the market price, which corresponds to the use of wagons for the transport of block trains, i.e. technologically simple and fast transport with a short wagon circulation time. As we have already mentioned, SWL shipments are, for technological reasons, more time-consuming due to wagon grouping, shunting, transport by several handling and specific route trains, therefore the circulation time of these wagons is considerably longer. This actually means that wagons can be loaded and thus can earn significantly less than wagons in block trains. The increase in the cost burden due to the longer circulation of wagons, compared to block trains, is roughly two euros per tonne of goods transported. It is true that single wagon loads are transported at higher unit prices, but these are not sufficient to cover the actual costs. Competition from road transport does not make it possible to pass on all costs in full to the customer, as there is a risk of goods moving from rail to road, and thus shifting a further burden on the road network and the environment.
The solution is the introduction of subsidies to cover losses in the form of services in the public interest, or another form of support for the SWLs system as such, of course, for all carriers providing this service.
Risks of cancellation of SWLs
Failure to implement the proposed measures will bring the risk of cancellation of SWL shipments. What would this mean for our roads and regions, how would it affect the lives of us all? It should be noted that goods will not disappear and this mass will have to be transported anyway, in particular by road, which would burden especially the regions of Abov, Liptov, Orava, Kysuce, Považie, Horehronie, Gemer, but also the wider surroundings of Bratislava. We do not even need to talk about the impacts on the road network and the environment or the health and comfort of the inhabitants. However, ZSSK CARGO wants to preserve single wagon load shipments. According to experts, this is clearly a service in the public interest. There is already support for SWLs in Germany, Austria and most recently in Hungary, too. We believe that with the support of the state, it will be possible not only to maintain SWLs on the railway, but also to obtain part of the goods from Slovak roads. After all, it is also one of the goals of the EU transport policy. And the funds expended will be recovered by the state many times in the form of savings in the costs to eliminate the negative impacts of road transport.
Photo: Marek Bielich
