TURKEY: Parliament has passed legislation extending state support for infrastructure manager TCDD and national train operator TCDD Taşımcılık until at least the end of 2023, with a clause allowing the President to extend subsidies for up to a further 10 years without recourse to parliament.
The legislation passed on March 10 will see the state continue to provide direct funding for some of TCDD’s infrastructure investments and to cover any deficit in the operating budget caused by the 2016 transfer of operations to the newly established TCDD Taşımcılık, as well as funding any revenue shortfall at the operator.
The subsidies were deemed necessary because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced TCDD Taşımcılık to suspend most passenger services and make only limited numbers of seats available on those high speed services which have been able to run. This had caused a loss of revenue for both the operator and the infrastructure manager.
Turkey’s rail liberalisation plans allow private companies to bid to start offering passenger services in competition with TCDD Taşımcılık from this year. However, none has so far announced plans to do, owing to general uncertainty over how the market will operate and the problems caused by the pandemic. The extension of state subsidies for TCDD Taşımcılık until at least 2023 makes it less likely that private operators will submit bids before then.
The continued subsidies are likely also to impact the freight sector, where private companies have been operating since 2018. In 2019, the last year for which data is available, private operators accounted for 12·5% of the 33·54 million tonnes carried.
