The Polish Deputy Minister for Infrastructure Piotr Malepszak announced that the country is making changes to its rail financing structure. First and foremost, a redo of the fuel tax system will be to the benefit of the rail fund.
Poland will introduce a new fuel tax structure, where a fuel fee will grow at the expense of the existing excise tax. “As a result, each year the fuel fee funds transferred to the Railway Fund, which finances track investments, will increase from two billion zloty (473 million euros) to ten billion (2.4 billion euros)”, Malepszak told newspaper Gazeta Prawna.
The policy change will allow rail to gain more financial stability and to move away from a one-year budget. Newly acquired funds can be “flexibly managed”, meaning that savings in the rail fund can be managed at a later stage and for purposes other than the original project.
Gazeta Prawna also reports that Poland’s Railway Fund will be allowed to take on debt, which will be the next policy change to allow for more stable rail financing.