Albanian railways condition worst in SEE

TIRANA, June 13 – A new World Bank report has ranked the state-owned Albanian railways as the poorest in Southeast Europe as far as traffic density and productivity is concerned. The report ranked Albania’s railways operational performance on the bottom of the 10-country list. The list was led by Turkey, followed by Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia Herzegovina. Albania’s traffic density is estimated at 6 percent of the EU 27 while coach, wagon, locomotive and labour productivity vary from 5 to 14 percent of the EU 27, according to the new World Bank report titled “Railway Reform in South East Europe and Turkey: On the Right Track?” released this week. The study states that rail transport in Albania has been declining throughout the decade. With 19 million ton-km of traffic in 2001, freight traffic doubled by 2008, to reach 53 million ton-km, before declining by 15 percent in 2009 as a result of the impact of the economic crisis. To put the traffic in perspective, freight traffic volume in 2009 was still lower than in 1995, revealing no real improvement of the freight sector over the last 14 years. “In turn, this reflects significant under-investment in rolling stock and infrastructure, as well as the destruction of rail assets during unrest in both 1991 and 1997, which translates into low operational speed, poor reliability, and expensive services,” says the report. Passenger traffic in Albania has declined from 125 million passenger in 2000 to 32 million in 2009. The low level of traffic reflects few passenger trains per day, with distances between stations of 17 km to 50 km. The underlying reasons for declining passenger numbers also include long-travel times, unreliability of services, and uncomfortable coaches. Between Durres and Tiranaء 37 km sectionנthe track was modernized in 1997, yet the speed limit remains 60 km/hour. Due to frequent pedestrian sightings on the tracks, drivers often drive slowly to avoid accidents. This suggests that improved infrastructure will not lead to faster operational speeds if the issue of trespassing and safety– more broadly linked to the absence of a signaling system on much of the networkנis not addressed. There are currently no international passenger services. The number of Albanian Railway employees is high for such a small network yet staff productivity is very low. In contrast to Kosovo Railways, which employs 400 staff for a 333 km network, Albanian Railways employs 1,882 for 424 km of network. This represents less than 7 percent of the EU average and has fallen from the levels seen in 2006-2007. Albanian Railways has a negative net income of Euro 2.1 million in 2008 and losses throughout 2005-2009. Excluding state contributions, the working ratio is considerably above 1, at 1.46 in 2008, reflecting the fact that Albanian Railways is unable to recover operating costs. A feasibility study prepared in 2009 has estimated the costs required to upgrade infrastructure in the core rail network. Three scenarios were developed: (i) a scenario to increase maintenance to achieve 60 km/hour running speed; (ii) improvement works to achieve 100 km/hour and 22.5 ton axle-loads; and (iii) option 1 plus enhanced rail safety performance. The first scenario focuses on a minimum track maintenance program, allowing only minor improvements in passenger and freights services. For options 1 and 2 total costs are estimated at Euro 185.2 million and Euro 237.9 million respectively, with the most expensive works on the Vore – Shkoder line. One of the main benefits of the additional investments is expected to be travel-time savingsطith the Durres-Tirana service reduced from 60 minutes to 28.5 minutes, Durres to Elbasan from 148 minutes to 63 minutes, and Shkoder to Vore from 171 to 61 minutes. Another important benefit would be improved safety, thanks to the installation of a modern signaling system. The study recommends the rehabilitation of the Durres-Tirana line as a pilot project to improve servicesآased on preliminary estimates; although a more detailed study is required. This would require investing Euro 40.1 million (option 1), which would be a significant departure from the last two decades, during which there has been minimal investments in the rail sector. How such a large rail network upgrade could be financed is an open question, says the report. Albanian Railways (HSH) is the monopoly state-owned rail company and has been a stock holding company since 2000, with the Ministry of Economy as its owner. The rail network is small, with 444 km of single track non-electrified rail with standard gauge, of which 424 km is operated. It consists of 4 main lines: (i) Durres to Tirana; (ii) Durres to Vlore through Rrogozhine; Rrogozhine to Pogrodec; and Vore to Hani i Hotit. In addition, there are two branch lines, one of which is not operational, and two industrial connections؂udull to Fushe-Kruje for cement and Elbasan to the Kurum steel facility. The ‘core network’ consists of 197 km from Durres to Tirana (37km), Vore to Shkoder (85 km), and Shkozet to Elbasan (75km). Although the railway was constructed to serve the freight market, passenger services operate throughout the network, with the exception being between Shkoder and Hani i Hotit.