The liberalization of high-speed passenger transport has done the market good. The data of the Transport Regulatory Authority say so. First of all the one related to the annual growth rate of passenger kilometers which from 2010 to 2011 increased by 3,8%. Then came 2012, the year of liberalisation, and Italo entered the Italian high-speed sector. Since then, the annual growth rate of passenger kilometers has risen by 12,3%.
I benefits for passengers were also seen in prices. In fact, from 2012 to 2018, passenger revenues per kilometer fell by 3%. Translated in simple terms: thanks to liberalization the price of tickets has fallen.
In parallel though it is increased the number of trains that allow passengers to move from one city to another, On the main routes, the percentages are in the triple digits:
- Turin – Milan: +387%,
- Rome – Naples: +353%,
- Florence – Rome: +230%;
- Bologna – Florence: +211%,
- Milan – Bologna: +217%.
These are some of the data that the president of the Authority, Andrea Camanzi, presented in Madrid Friday 4 October on the occasion of the first day on the railway sector organized by the Spanish CNMC (National Commission for Competition and the Market) which, in this context, carries out the tasks of an independent regulatory body.
The initiative was inserted in the context of the foreseen opening up of the Spanish passenger rail market to competition, a process in which European regulators are directly involved.
The presentation was held in the presence of the Deputy Minister of Economic Development and was attended by business and government representatives.
