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Things are not looking good for the Austrian Federal Railways and the Czech railways Ceské dráhy. Both companies have been fined heavily. The EU Commission was forced to impose sanctions totalling millions on both countries for a breach of competition law. Specifically, the incident concerns the company RegioJet. Both the Austrian Federal Railways and the Czech State Railways had entered into agreements with the aim of making it difficult or even impossible for the new market entrant RegioJet to gain access to used railway carriages. This led to a restriction of competition.

RegioJet is a Czech railway company that has primarily relied on used trains, which have been sent out since around 2011.

According to investigations by the EU Commission, the Austrian Federal Railways and the Czech State Railways then cooperated with each other contractually between 2012 and 2016. More specifically, this involved used wagons from the Austrian Federal Railways, which RegioJet was not supposed to receive. They contracted with each other to prevent the sale to RegioJet.

The fine imposed by the EU Commission on both countries totals 48.7 million euros, of which Austria had to pay around 16,7 million euros and the Czech Republic around 32 million euros. The lower sum results from the so-called ‘leniency programme’. This reduced the penalty by around 46%. In short, this means that the Austrian Federal Railways helped with the investigations. The reduction therefore reflects the period of time and the extent to which the evidence provided by the company helped the Commission to prove the existence of the cartel.

 

Source: Pixabay/ railway-station-1363771_1280