Our non-profit association ALLRAIL is very disappointed to read about the latest developments in Germany regarding the antitrust investigation into state incumbent Deutsche Bahn (‘DB’) by the Federal Cartel Office (‘FCO’).
Back in April 2022, the FCO clearly identified several anti-competitive rail ticketing practices by both the market dominant operator and the market dominant ticket vendor in Germany – in both cases the vertically integrated state incumbent DB – that are designed to suppress the growth of the rail sector and prevent achieving the goals of the EU Green Deal.
But from a recent article in MLex, it now appears that the commitments to rectify these offered by DB fall very short of fair and reasonable commercial terms and would not allow independent ‘One-Stop Shop’ Multimodal Digital Mobility Service (MDMS) platforms to create sustainable business models for impartial rail ticketing across Europe.
It is finally time that Germany and Europe got serious about Modal Shift for the Masses: by creating MDMS digital platforms that will allow EU citizens to search and book door-to-door ground-based collective public transport between any two addresses in the EU in an impartial manner. This is what will really rival the convenience of the private individual motor car!
DB and its fellow state-owned rail incumbents have already had more than two decades of the internet in order to deliver such One-Stop Shops – and failed. Now, independently owned MDMS digital platforms want to fill this void but are prevented from doing so – because national market dominant rail operators like DB are unwilling to share publicly-funded data with independent MDMS. Furthermore, they aim to pay a significantly lower commission to independent MDMS than what they pay to their in-house ticket vendors (for exactly the same service).
The alleged new commitments by DB, as described in the recent MLex article, are still very weak and contrast greatly to the vision of the EU Commission (EC). In an upcoming legislative proposal, the EC is set to reveal that impartial MDMS platforms are one of the main enablers for growth in ground-based collective public transport and that fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory commercial terms (FRAND) should be the fundamental principles adopted to overcome the obvious imbalance of negotiating power between market dominant state-owned incumbents and independently owned MDMS platforms.
“EU citizens fund the vast majority of rail infrastructure and 70% of EU passenger rail services by means of Public Service Obligations. Therefore, they deserve to be able to search and book all passenger rail options between any two stations in Europe at impartial MDMS digital platforms. EU passenger rail is the only transport sector with High Subsidy and Low Delivery, and this cannot continue”.
ALLRAIL Secretary General Nick Brooks
But this will only happen when the current anti-competitive practices of dominant incumbents like DB ends. Therefore, if the contents of the new MLex article are true, then we strongly urge the Federal Cartel Office not to agree to commitments by DB that are too weak. After all, this is a precedent case for all of Europe – the future of the sustainable mobility is at stake.