Lithuanian
Railways (Lietuvos geležinkeliai) has been fined €28m by the European
Commission for violating the European Union’s antitrust rules.
“Lithuanian Railways used its control over the
national rail infrastructure to penalise competitors in the rail transport
sector,” said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy.
“The European Union needs a well-functioning rail freight market. It is
unacceptable and unprecedented that a company dismantles a public rail
infrastructure to protect itself from competition.”
According
to a European Commission press release, Lithuanian Railways, which is
responsible for both railway infrastructure and rail transport, tried to block
competition on the rail freight market by removing a rail track connecting
Lithuania and Latvia.
Specifically,
AB Orlen Lietuva, a fully-owned subsidiary of Polish PKN Orlen, was a major
commercial customer of Lithuanian Railways. In 2008, Orlen considered
redirecting its freight from Lithuania to Latvia by using the services of
another rail operator. In response, Lithuanian Railways dismantled a 19km long
section of track connecting Lithuania and Latvia, close to Orlen’s refinery.
The removal of the track meant that Orlen would need to use a much longer route
to reach Latvia. Since then the dismantled track has not been rebuilt.
The
Commission’s investigation found that these actions hindered competition on the
rail freight market by preventing a major customer of Lithuanian Railways from
using the services of another rail operator. Lithuanian Railways failed to show
any objective justification for the removal of the track.
This is in
breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
(TFEU) which prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/brussels-fines-lithuanian-railways-e28m/