TIRANA, June 9 – The Albanian government has unveiled plans of awarding the first 60 km of the country’s dilapidated railway network under a 25-year public-private partnership. In an announcement published on the Public Procurement Agency, the Transport Ministry invites bids on two key segments in southern Albania, the 26-km Fier-Ballsh segment linking the southwestern city of Fier to the oil refinery in Ballsh, a line used for oil transport and the 34-km Fier-Vlore segment which is used both for passenger and freight transport.
The Transport Ministry has not announced any price tag in its invitation but says it expects submission of bids from potential Albanian and foreign investors until July 20.
The Albanian rail network is small, with 444 km of single track non-electrified rail with standard gauge, of which 424 km is operated.
Albania’s rail transport suffered another blow in 2013 when both handling of passengers and goods hit record lows, unveiling the critical situation of the railway sector which lacks adequate infrastructure, experts say.
Data published by the country’s Institute of Transport show only around 329,000 people travelled by train during the whole of 2013, down from 448,000 in 2012 and 6445,000 in 2009, which is less than the average daily number of people handled by road transport. The closure of the Tirana train station, which has probably made Tirana among the few capitals without rail transport, to pave the way to the extension of the Tirana boulevard has also influenced on rail traffic as passengers have been forced to get off in Vora, a town 15 km outside Tirana, since September 2013.
Meanwhile, rail transport of goods slightly recovered to 150,469 tonnes in 2013, up from 142,354 tonnes in 2012, but was down from 317,000 in 2011 and around 402,000 tonnes in 2010.
International rail transport also dropped to 98,608 tonnes in 2013, down from 135,959 tonnes in 2012 and 228,809 in 2011. Albania currently has a railway connection only with neighbouring Montenegro.
A recent 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 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.
Albania would have already had a modern railway network in Tirana and Durres had it not unilaterally cancelled a contract with U.S giant General Electric back in 2005.
In March 2010, the Albanian government was fined USD 20 million over the unilateral annulment of a 2003 contract, worth Euro 74 million with General Electric. The project cancelled in 2005 was aimed at modernizing the Tirana-Durres railway segment, known also as the electric train, which would have been linked with Mother Theresa International Airport.
