Proceedings against Deutsche Bahn AG in connection with abusive route price structure halted

20.03.2001

The Bundeskartellamt is halting proceedings against Deutsche Bahn in connection with abusive route price structures. The President of the Bundeskartellamt, Ulf Böge said, "The Bundeskartellamt welcomes the decision by Deutsche Bahn AG to introduce a new track pricing system (TPS 01). In so doing, Deutsche Bahn is abiding by its commitment to reform the current system, TPS 98, which is to be seen critically from the point of view of competition law, to bring it in line with competition law. Through the introduction of a new route price structure, a major obstacle to effective competition in the rail sector is being removed."

Abuse proceedings were initiated following complaints by several private railway companies and government units responsible for local public transport. The Bundeskartellamt's investigation has shown that the route costs incurred when applying TPS 98 cost competitors 25 per cent and in some cases more than 40 per cent more than the costs incurred by DB Regio, a Deutsche Bahn subsidiary. According to the Bundeskartellamt, this is a violation of the ban on abusive practices (Section 20 (1) of the ARC). Since the Bundeskartellamt is unable to prescribe any particular rail network price system itself, it was up to the Deutsche Bahn AG to take appropriate company policy measures to prevent the Bundeskartellamt from deciding to issue a prohibition order.

Under the TPS 01 system now announced by Deutsche Bahn AG, the prices to be paid by private railway companies are made up of basic prices, which vary, depending on the basis of different route categories, and different product and loading factors, relating inter alia to the type of transport and the flexibility of the timetable. In accordance with the new system, all competitors providing a specific transport service on a particular part of the rail network will pay the same price per kilometre of route travelled. The discriminatory effects which the Bundeskartellamt considered to be being major components of the TPS 98 system, and on which its charges against Deutsche Bahn were based, are thus avoided in the new system.

Under competition law, however, the Bundeskartellamt cannot give Deutsche Bahn's new TPS 01 system its final approval. According to Dr Böge, that will now depend on how Deutsche Bahn AG puts the system into practice. If there are any complaints about the specific application of the new system TPS 01, the Bundeskartellamt will investigate them very carefully and intervene if necessary.

The Bundeskartellamt is continuing to investigate the extent to which Deutsche Bahn AG makes available sufficiently detailed information on the structure of the pricing system for use of its network and of the network infrastructure (including route profiles and speed limits) to other companies demanding non-discriminatory access to its network under the new system. The Bundeskartellamt considers sufficient transparency to be a major element of non-discriminatory competition.

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