State audit criticizes passenger train subsidies

Just months after public uproar prevented the closure of much of Estonia's diesel passenger network the state auditor has again called for the phasing out of rail passenger services and their replacement by buses.

The state could launch nine free bus services for the money it spends per train service, the state audit office found in a new report.

"There are no substantial arguments in favor of railway passenger transportation in comparison to any other transport," said Margus Kurm, the office's chief auditor.

"With bus transportation, costs are significantly smaller while at the same time, it is unrealistic to raise train ticket prices because they are quite comparable to the bus ticket cost. Launching new bus routes requires additional investments in road construction, but that will be made up for by the roads also being used by other vehicles."

Redirecting even a part of the 939.6 million kroons (60.04 million euros) which have been earmarked in subsidies for 2001 to 2009 would considerably improve transportation options, said Kurm.

Trains are the only available transport for about 400 people living in the southeastern part of the country, but buses should be provided instead, he said.

The main focus of the office's criticism is Edelaraudtee, a private company which operates five passenger and two cargo routes.

The audit office found that Edelaruadtee has to add 9 kroons for every kroon which customers pay for their tickets. The state paid about 84 kroons per passenger ride in 2001.

Parliament agreed on the current system of subsidies after a lengthy political debate in 2001, in which the public reacted furiously to the idea of substituting trains for buses.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications reacted to the audit office's findings by disputing its calculations.

"The costs of building new roads and reconstructing old ones were not taken into account, and neither were the costs of maintaining the existing railway infrastructure, which is vital even if the passenger trains are not running," said Liina Tonisson, minister of transport and communications.

"In order to substitute trains with buses the state would have to build tens of kilometers of completely new roads and spend hundreds of millions of kroons doing that. We can do that neither in a day nor in a year."

Tonisson admitted that Edelaraudtee would have to change its working practices.

"We will have to change the contract with Edelaraudtee to make passenger transportation more customer-centered," she said.

But she defended the public transportation development program for 2003 to 2010 which she said would make the system more efficient and integrated.

In August 2002 about 150,000 people used Edelaruadtee's trains, a 25 percent increase on last year, while on its most popular route between Tallinn and Viljandi the company served 1,052,420 passengers in the first eight months of 2002.

Edelaraudtee, founded in 1997, is the only private passenger train operator in Estonia, while the state owned Elektriraudtee operates electric trains in the Tallinn area.

Long distance trains between Tallinn and St. Petersburg are operated by EVR Ekspress, which is 44 percent state owned.

Estonia has a standard gauge railway network of over a thousand kilometers.