Rail Services Market

Rail services market is a market where the infrastructure manager or operator of a service facility provides rail services to applicants for infrastructure capacity (railway undertaking or international group, shipping companies, freight forwarders and combined transport operators, having an interest in public service performance or business interest in infrastructure capacity allocation, etc.).

In the Republic of Croatia, the manager of railway infrastructure is the Croatian Railway Infrastructure Ltd. The management of railway infrastructure is an activity of public interest. The basic functions of the infrastructure manager are: the railway track allocation, including the determination and assessment of infrastructure capacity availability and determination of infrastructure charges, including the imposing the charges.

The infrastructure manager shall manage the railway infrastructure (railway infrastructure map) for which the Network Report is published and available on the official website of the HŽ infrastruktura is published.

In accordance with the Railway Act OG 32/19 a railway undertaking is any legal person authorised to carry out rail transport services issued by the competent authority whose principal activity is to carry out rail freight and/or passenger services provided that legal person ensures train traction; this also includes legal persons engaged only in train traction.

Rail services are:

a) Minimum access package
b) Access to service facilities and services provided in those facilities, including track access to service facilities
c) Additional services
d) Auxilary services

The minimum access package is consisted of:

handling of requests for railway infrastructure capacity;
right to utilize allocated capacity
use of railway infrastructure, including track points and junctions
managing the rail traffic including signaling, regulation, reception and dispatching and the communication and provision of information on train movement;
use of electrical supply equipment necessary for traction current, where available
all other information required for realization and provision of service for which capacity has been allocated

Service facilities are:

passenger stations, their buildings and other facilities including a travel information display and suitable location for ticketing services;
freight terminals;
marshalling yards and train formation facilities, including shunting facilities;
storage sidings;
maintenance facilities, except for regular maintenance facilities specially designed for high-speed trains or other types of rolling stock requiring special facilities
other technical facilities, including cleaning and washing facilities;
maritime and inland port facilities connected to rail activities;
auxiliary facilities;
fuel supply facilities and refueling in the facilities, (the charges shown separately on the invoices

Additional services can be

electricity needed to tow trains, for which the fees for account are reported separately from the charges for the use of electricity supply equipment
pre-heating of passenger trains;
special contracts for:

1. surveillance by transportation of dangerous goods,
2. assistance in transportation of extraordinary shipments

Auxiliary services can be:

• access to the telecommunication networks;
• provision of additional information
• technical inspection of rolling stock
• ticketing services in passenger stations;
• regular maintenance services provided in maintenance facilities specially designed for high-speed rolling stock or for other types of rolling stock requiring special facilities.

Economic balance of public passenger transport services contract

Pursuant to Article 19, paragraph 1 of the Act on the Regulation of the Railway Services Market and the Protection of Passengers Rights in Railway Transport (OG 104/17) an applicant planning to ask for infrastructure capacity for carrying out of rail passenger transport services on paths where one or more public passenger transport contracts cover the same or alternative paths between a designated starting point and a specific destination, and where this would jeopardise the economic balance of those contracts, shall inform the infrastructure manager and the regulatory body at least 18 months before the entry into force of the timetable related to the capacity requirement.

The regulatory body shall be informed by means of a standard notification form on the planned new rail passenger service that can be found here.