BALKAN RAILWAYS FROM 19. CENTURY

POLITICS & CRIME HŽ Infrastruktura receives HRK 900 million a year from the state. How could she pay people to manually raise the ramps People are suffering because of the ramps like from the 19th century MR MARKO REPECKI 08:16 415 RECOMMENDATIONS 5 COMMENTS LAST CHANGE: SEP 9, 2020PHOTO: VJEKOSLAV SKLEDAR The news of a serious accident that happened yesterday at the level crossing near Sisak illustrates well the situation of the Croatian railways. The driver of the car was seriously injured because the railway worker forgot to lower the ramp, so we found out that despite the billions that HŽ companies receive from the budget every year, there are still ramps that someone manually lowers and raises, as in the 19th century. In 2012, Croatian Railways, whose operations have been marked by losses and deteriorating services for their customers for years, entered the restructuring process, which was assessed as rather unsuccessful. At the end of 2012, the former HŽ Holding was divided into three independent companies HŽ putnički prijevoz, HŽ Infrastruktura and HŽ Cargo. HOW 3 COMPANIES ARE CONCEIVED Passenger transport and infrastructure currently have a positive business, but it should be taken into account that a good part of their income comes from state subsidies. HŽ Cargo's business has been in free decline in recent years, accumulating losses and rapidly losing market share due to the arrival of competition with which they are obviously unable to cope. When these three companies became independent, the idea was for HŽ Infrastruktura, which deals with the construction and maintenance of the railway network, to be financed from the budget, as provided by the Railway Act. HŽ Putnički prijevoz was supposed to function with minimal subsidies. They were supposed to receive money only for railways that were unprofitable but it was estimated that their survival was in the public interest. While HŽ Cargo was supposed to enter the market competition, which really happened. MOST OF THE REVENUE COMES FROM THE BUDGET HŽ Infrastruktura - these are the ones who take care of the ramps - last year had revenues of 1.32 billion kuna and a profit of half a million kuna. Sales revenues amounted to only HRK 190 million, of which HRK 148 million was revenues from the sale of railway services. The largest part of the revenue comes from the state budget - in 2019 they received 913 million, and a year earlier 899 million. The budget money received by HŽ Infrastruktura is divided into two items, so 445 million refers to funds from the state budget for the management, organization and regulation of railway traffic, while the remaining 468 million is revenue from excise duties. Namely, out of every liter of fuel sold at the pumps, 20 lipa goes to the railway, ie HŽ Infrastruktura. From the report of HŽ Infrastruktura The costs of workers in HŽ Infrastruktura, of which there are slightly more than five thousand, amounted to HRK 711 million last year, which is an increase compared to 2018, when this item amounted to HRK 688 million. HŽ PUTNIČKI PRIJEVOZ ALSO SAVES THE BUDGET HŽ Putnički prijevoz also depends on budget revenues. Last year, they had revenues of HRK 836 million, but it is interesting to note that revenues from ticket sales were only HRK 250 million, while they received HRK 448 million from the budget "based on public service contracts". Last year, HŽ Putnički prijevoz ended up with a surplus of HRK 2.6 million. They employed 1830 people, and the cost of employees was around 275 million kuna. THE GREAT COLLAPSE OF HŽ CARGO We recently reported on the collapse of HŽ Cargo, a third company from the former HŽ Holding , after they found themselves in the spotlight due to the closure of their branch office in Ploče. This state-owned freight railway company came under pressure from competition after Croatia's entry into the European Union, when the market was liberalized. There are currently 10 railway freight carriers on the Croatian market, so HŽ Cargo, which was absolutely dominant until 2016, is now rapidly losing market share. In just four years, competition has grown from 14 percent market share, in tons of cargo, to as much as 53 percent. The decline can also be seen in revenues, which fell below HRK 500 million, while the plan for last year was just over HRK 600 million. THE TEXT CONTINUES AFTER THE AD Sponsored content [FREE SHIPPING] Grab a Dormeo Aloe Vera mattress topper at half price - Hurry up to your dimension! Midas - Native Internet Advertising ramp lift , HŽ , HŽ Infrastructure , ramp , accident MR Marko Repecki