| The Ministry of Railways will increase fares for wealthy citizens by a quarter Russian Railways OJSC announced new tariffs for travel in compartment and luxury cars next year. The price increase was unprecedented - an average of 25%. As this year, passengers can expect a “flexible system of tariff regulation”: the fare will depend on passenger traffic (very expensive before the holidays and in the summer and a little cheaper in the off-season). Railroad workers say that demand for their services is growing, and the Federal Energy Commission (which approves fares for reserved seat and general carriages) says that only a sharp increase in tariffs for wealthy citizens can eliminate subsidies for passenger transportation by freight.
Already from January 1, tickets for travel in compartment cars and luxury cars will rise in price by 9% compared to today's prices. The resulting tariffs will be basic. Then a “flexible” schedule will begin to operate, which will be posted at each station. And from January 15 there will be another increase in price - by 15%. Then the tariffs will no longer become lower - the corresponding instructions from the Ministry of Railways only indicate their increase. Apparently, according to a similar principle, prices for travel in a reserved seat and a seat will rise; the FEC claims that by the end of this week they will formulate a schedule for “flexible regulation”.
It is possible that by sharply increasing fares for compartments and luxury cars, the Ministry of Railways and the management of Russian Railways provide an opportunity to make money for private operating companies that have entered or will enter the passenger transportation sector. As you know, their profit is obtained mainly through work in the so-called popular directions - for example, Moscow - St. Petersburg. Almost all private traders (ZAO Okdail, TransGroupAS, Sochi Transport Company, regional suburban companies Omsk-Prigorod, Altai-Prigorod, etc.) are in one way or another affiliated with both the current leadership of the industry and former. There is no competition in this market in its direct sense, passenger traffic on popular routes is only growing, therefore, with the increase in tariffs for transportation by the state-owned Russian Railways, there is no need for private operators to maintain tariffs - people will still be forced to travel. There is now no reason to increase tariffs for private owners without similar actions on the part of the Ministry of Railways and Russian Railways: then the meaning of industry reform is lost - the introduction of competition should lead to a reduction in tariffs. And keeping pace with government agencies is very profitable.
Another thing is that because of such steps, unpopular areas, which are the majority in Russia, will suffer. “If people stop traveling, then there will be no coupe or SV - these are the laws of the market,” says Pavel Ivankin, head of the FEC’s regular railway transportation department. True, he stipulates that if negative consequences appear, some adjustment of the tariff policy is possible.
The current tariff policy, under which the Ministry of Railways has the right to set fares for travel in compartments and luxury cars, appeared thanks to the decision of the Ministry of Aviation Administration of September 10, 2000 as an experiment. The MAP did not consider the increase in prices for travel in high-class cars to be a socially significant factor, since the low-income population prefers to travel in a lower class. The Ministry of Railways, which was then headed by Mr. Aksenenko, immediately - from October 1, 2000 - increased prices for coupes and luxury cars by 20%. Fares were reduced only once - in the winter of 2002, when passenger traffic fell to a record low.
However, such a sharp increase in tariffs as planned for 2004 has not yet occurred. And it cannot be ruled out that this step will lead to an outflow of passengers: wealthy people will prefer air travel, while the rest will be forced to transfer to lower-class carriages. Only those destinations where planes do not fly, as well as popular routes, will benefit. However, the FEC believes that this will not happen: for ten months of this year, the commission reported, the total occupancy of compartment and luxury cars was 75-80%.
“We have been given the task of moving away from cross-subsidies carried out at the expense of shippers,” explains Mr. Ivankin. - Yes, the price jump is significant, but there is no other way out. The system of budget subsidies is gradually being reduced to zero - only 2 billion rubles are included in the budget for next year for these purposes. Ideally, to get away from cross-subsidization, you need to increase fares for reserved seat and general carriages by at least 30%. But we cannot increase tariffs for all passenger transportation at once, since they have important social significance. There is only one thing left - to increase the prices for travel in SV and compartments.” The increase in fares in reserved seat and general carriages, according to him, on average will not exceed 12%.
However, it is hard to believe that the railway workers will be able to repay the subsidies in this way. As a result of independent regulation of tariffs, additional revenues of the Ministry of Railways in 2001-2002. amounted to only about 1.3 billion rubles, although initially Mr. Aksenenko planned to collect 2 billion rubles. The fact that the effect of railroad workers’ independence in the field of tariff regulation is still lower than expected is also recognized by the FEC. However, they do not propose any changes to the order.
The press services of the Ministry of Railways and Russian Railways yesterday were unable to comment on the tariff policy in the field of passenger transportation. Yana VIKTOROVA |
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