SEETO CONFERENCE, SKOPJE NIKOLA DIMITROVSKI - DIRECTOR RAILWAY REGULATORY AGENCY REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Legal framework The Agency is an independent legal entity established on the basis of the Law on Railway Market Regulatory Agency (“Official Journal of the Republic of Macedonia” no. 7/2008) in order to provide inspection and impartial performance of the activities in the railway transport, performed as public interest services, The working activities of the Agency are in accordance with the new Law on Railway System (“Official Journal of the Republic of Macedonia” no. 48/2010), since its entrance into force on the , The Agency is responsible for its operations to the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia.

Operational Principles of the Agency The operations of the Agency are based on the following principles : legality, expertise, professionalism, transparency, and operational responsibility.

Responsibilities of the Agency The Agency is responsible: For control of the quality of the railway services provided by the railway operators and infrastructure managers; To undertake measures for providing protection of passengers rights; To provide that the track access charges to the railway infrastructure established by the railway infrastructure manager is non-discriminatory, in accordance with the Law on Railway System; To undertake measures for prevention from unfair and discriminatory behavior of the railway infrastructure manager and each railway operator or applicant for granting an infrastructure capacity;

Responsibilities of the Agency To undertake measures for prevention from unfair and discriminatory behavior between two or more railway operators in providing railway transport services; To undertake measures for prevention from unfair and discriminatory appliance of the network statement and the framework agreements; To approve the charges in cases of congested infrastructure, if the capacity plan cannot be implemented or if the proposed solutions are not economically and financially profitable; Control over the access and the use of the service facilities and the stable premises which are not managed by the railway infrastructure manager, but are regulated by the agreement between the service provider and one or more railway operators;

Responsibilities of the Agency To keep a Registry on issued, annulled and withdrawn licenses for public railway transport given to the railway operator and licenses for management of the railway infrastructure given to the railway infrastructure manager; To observe the railway market in order to analyze the competition between different types of transport and To monitor the railway market service competition, including the railway freight market.

Activities in the first year of its existence Тhe following legal documents have been adopted in 2009: – The Statute of the Agency, – Procedural rules, – Rulebook on internal organization of the Agency, – Rulebook on systematization of workplaces within the Agency, – Financial Plan of the Agency for 2009, – Annual programme for work and development and – Decisions and other documents in the competence of the Director and the Management Board of the Agency.

Organizational Hierarchy and Structure of the Agency DIRECTOR RAILWAY TRAFFIC, TECHNICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT INFRASTRUCTURE DEPARTMENT ECONOMIC DEPARTMENTLEGAL DEPARTMENT INTERNAL REVISION MANAGEMENT BOARD

Current situation PE Macedonian Railways - Infrastructure Skopje (PEMRI), Macedonian Railways JSC - Transport Skopje (MRJSCT) and One application for obtaining a license for public railway transport had been submitted to the Agency. However, the license was not issued since the applicant did not meet the conditions prescribed with the Law on Railway System.

Experiences from the first year of its existence The Agency has also started the procedure of collection of required data from the stakeholders in the railway market in respect to: а. Network statement and the criteria within the network statement; b. The process and the procedure of distribution of infrastructural capacities and the results of the procedure guided by the infrastructure manager; c. The criteria on the establishment of the access/use of the railway infrastructure; d. The altitude and the structure of access for the use of the railway infrasructure; e. The decision on the approval of access to the railway infrastructure of the railway operator. At the end of 2009, three new competent employees have been engaged in the work of the Agency. Thus, the number of permanently employees is currently 4.

Resolving complaints of the railway operator in relation to the documents issued by the infrastructure manager During 2009, the Agency had requested information from the PEMRI and MRJSCT in relation to the application of the railway infrastructure access contract and the network statement. MRJSCT provided information that the contract has been fully applicable and that there were no deviations as well as complaints in regards to the network statement. REMRI had also informed that MRJSCT is working in full compliance with the contract.

Supervision over the services provided by the railway operator During 2009, the Agency carried out a supervision over the quality of services provided by the railway operator in respect to: а. The business plan, b. Passenger transport, c. Freight transport, d. Train speed and movement of load, e. Train delays in the passenger transport, extent and reasons, f. Train delays in the freight transport, extent and reasons etc. From the results of the supervision, it was established that there is a need of increase of service quality in relation to the time schedule, the passenger information system as well as the services provided for the passengers in the train.

Cooperation with international authorities and organizations as well as regulatory bodies of other countries in the area of railways in 2009 The Agency cooperated with the European Railway Agency, the regulatory bodies in the region as well as the agencies of the developed European railways, in order to obtain experiences on the liberalization of the European market of railway services in accordance with the EU Directives. Having this is mind, the Agency has managed to carry out a working meeting with the Railway Regulatory Agency of the Republic of Bulgaria, in order to exchange experiences. Furthermore, the Director of the Agency had participated on the Annual Meeting of Regulatory Agencies of the EU. The Agency was working actively with the EU mission (DG TREN Commission) on the two day visit in Macedonia in regards to implementation of the Directives and the future activities of the Agency.

Activities in 2010 In order to enhance the capacities of the employees, several TAIEX applications have been submitted in regards to: - Mechanisms for defining quality indicators as a first step in signing multiannual agreements between the Government of the Republic of Macedonia and the Railway Infrastructure; and development of models for defining quality indicators for determination of Public service obligations. (This activity shall be carried out with the regulatory bodies of Belgium and the Netherlands by the end of 2010) - The Agency as an appeal body and the complaint procedure (this activity shall be carried out by the end of 2010), - Expert mission on European practices and exchange of experience in implementation of the railway legislation in the field of regulation and interoperability. In order to raise the level of quality of the railway services, the Agency during 2010 has produced 2 studies on the quality of railway services.

Study on determination of criteria in respect to the quality of services provided for the passengers by the railway operator No.А) QUALITY CRITERIA 1PUNCTUALITY 2SAFETY 3AVAILABILITY B) STATUS ON THE MARKET OF RAILWAY SERVICES 1PRODUCTIVITY 2FINANACIAL SITUATION 3STATUS OF ASSETS

Study on determination of criteria in respect to the quality of services provided to the railway operators by the infrastructure manager No.А) QUALITY CRITERIA 1PUNCTUALITY 2SAFETY 3AVAILABILITY 4ACCESS B) STATUS ON THE MARKET OF RAILWAY SERVICES 1PRODUCTIVITY 2FINANACIAL SITUATION 3STATUS OF ASSETS

Current and future activities The quality criteria as defined with the previously mentioned studies were presented to the Management Board of the Agency and the Railway Department within the Ministry of Transport and Communications. These criteria have also been sent to the PEMRI and MRTJSC. Afterwards, working meetings have been carried out between the Management Board and the Director of the Agency and the Management Teams from the PEMRI and the MRTJSC. Both companies have accepted the proposed criteria and started preparatory activities for the implementation of the criteria.

Current and future activities The concept on implementation of passengers rights have been presented to the MRTJSC. These right are divided in three categories: а) Information before travelling, b) Information during the travel and c) Minimal standards for service quality. In relation to the passengers rights, working meeting has been held in the MRTJSC on a technical level and an appropriate dynamics on implementation has been agreed. MRTJSC have shown readiness to implement the passengers rights until the start of the new working timetable ( ). Afterwards, the Agency together with the MRTJSC will carry out monitoring of the implementation of passengers’ rights.

Monitoring of the railway market In accordance with its responsibilities and by the end of 2010, the Agency shall carry out an investigation/questionnaire on the protection and implementation of passengers’ rights, in line with the dynamics and criteria previously accepted by the MRTJSC. During 2011, the Agency plans to carry out complete monitoring of the railway market covering both the passengers and the freight transport.

FREIGHT TRANSPORT FROM 1985 TO 2009 NET TONE/KM AND TRANSPORT EXPRESSED IN TONES YEAR NTKM873,383, ,722, ,678, ,210, ,024, ,492, ,267, ,765, ,388, TONES Commercial speed in the freight transport Vk(t)=36 км/h 20.

PASSENGER TRANSPORT FROM 1990 TO ANNUAL NUMBER OF PASSENGERS IN THE RAILWAY TRANSPORT PASSENGERS Commercial speed in the passengers’ transport Vk(p) = 53 км/h *Number of passengers

Liberalization of the market of railway services The Agency participates actively in the establishment of a liberalized market of railway services through: Protection of the interest of users of railway services, Providing competition in the area of railway services on the basis of objective, transparent and non-discriminatory conditions, Providing impartial performance of the activities in the railway transport, performed as public interest services, Providing transparent and non-discriminatory work of the infrastructure manager and the railway undertakings.

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