's attack Rocco Sabelli, chief executive of the New Alitalia, against Trenitalia might have an answer like, "but this statement comes from that pulpit."
I've never been soft against
Trenitalia, but the spat seems to be out of place, both operators, on the main Milan - Rome, do not know the market competition and the word is out of their vocabulary.
Mauro Moretti, CEO of Ferrovie dello State said that the high speed does not receive government subsidies, after Sabelli had reported 3.6 billion of state aid to the railway sector in 2008. Unfortunately
Alitalia's CEO makes a mistake: the fact
billion state data FS were already 4.3 in 2007 and if the increase would be 17 percent, as stated, it could reach the astronomical figure 5 billion euro.
At this public money every year it pours into the coffers of the State Railways public, will be added to the capital increases that have been made almost on time, so that in recent years the average annual public subsidies to FS is approximately 7 billion €.
The high speed might not receive subsidies, but certainly the cost of railway infrastructure, which has cost more than € 35 million per kilometer, was not rewarded by Trenitalia, but by the state.
Alitalia was an almost unique case in European air transport in recent years as it has received a lot of state aid that the Bruno Leoni Institute has consistently criticized
. However in general aviation remains on its legs, unlike the railways, the European Union itself has admitted in a 2006 study that the plane is more efficient for flights from 250 km kilometers.
In fact, a trip between Milan and Rome offered da una compagnia aerea low cost, costa circa 4/5 centesimi di euro per posto chilometro offerto e significa che il costo operativo per una tratta del genere non raggiunge i 30 euro.
E per il treno? Il costo è sicuramente più che doppio e non si capisce perché lo Stato debba sussidiare tale tipologia di trasporto anche solo tramite la costruzione di un’infrastruttura ad alta velocità.
La risposta più “abusata” è questa: “si costruiscono linee ad alta velocità per incentivare l’uso del treno”
Peccato che in Gran Bretagna, dove praticamente non esiste un chilometro di alta velocità, il traffico ferroviario sia stato quello che
maggiormente si è developed in Europe over the past 12 years, more than France, which spends over € 11 billion a year in the railways, compared with 4 of the United Kingdom
What is the reason for this development? Simply was introduced real competition between train operators, so that the first railway company has a market share of about 20 percent of the market. The rail market has been liberalized and it is almost doubled, although in Britain there is a higher rate of penetration of low cost airlines on domestic routes (they now 50 per cent of the aviation market).
And in Italy which was the only miracle accomplished? What
be able to have a public monopoly on the tracks and a private monopoly on the Linate - Fiumicino in heaven. Alitalia
complains of Trenitalia, but owns about 98 percent of the market and from Linate airport, after the law has prevented 166 of 2008 working on the antitrust monopoly position has arisen following the merger between the old and Alitalia heron.
In Italy, we do not need miracles, but most of the market, otherwise it will always be the loser and only Italian citizens, both as a taxpayer as a consumer.
