Kazakh Railways (KTZ) seems to take the country’s rail priority rules not very seriously. That conclusion follows from an assessment by the Kazakh Agency for Competition Protection. The written law and reality diverge, rail freight operators’ association ARFC concurs.
The priority rules, often referred to as “rules for non-discriminatory access”, should in theory allow equal access to the railways for every operator. When there is limited capacity, a predefined set of rules determines who gets to go first.
“Non-discriminatory access: the law is there, but access is not?”, writes ARFC. “Everything is good in the law: Article 6 of the rail transport law guarantees transporters equal access conditions to the mainline network. […] Rules, tariffs and procedures are the same.”
Reality is different
But in practice, things work differently, ARFC says. It cites the Kazakh Agency for Competition Protection, which says that private companies are having a hard time getting onto the rail network. Access procedures are complicated and take a long time.
Moreover, long-term contracts are only available to state-owned rail operators KTZ’s subsidiaries. No other rail company can secure business beyond the short-term. Information systems are also closed, which means that data is not being shared beyond the state operator’s systems.
Furthermore, KTZ is reportedly displaying a preference for its own subsidiaries in terms of discounts, timeslots and payment conditions. And even if there are well-defined priority rules, KTZ gets to go first regardless.
Four demands
“ARFC acknowledges that there is competition on paper. In real life, there are barriers”, the association says. “For now, non-discriminatory access is a declaration.”
To change that, the association demands four things. First, it wants to separate infrastructure management from transportation services. Second, private parties should get access on the basis of clear and long-term agreements. Third, KTZ’s IT system should open up for transparency, and the current tariff policy should be revisited.