In the fourth quarter of last year, new rail freight carriers transported 22 percent more goods compared to the same period a year earlier, indicating that the liberalization of the rail services market has fostered a positive climate for the development of this segment in Croatia, according to a report by HAKOM.
The total amount of goods transported by Croatian railways in the fourth quarter of 2017 was one percent higher compared to the same period of the previous year, continuing the positive trend in freight rail transport, it was announced on Wednesday by the Croatian Regulatory Agency for Network Activities.
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Compared to the previous quarter, in the last quarter of last year, the transport of goods increased by 9 percent.
HAKOM states that the fourth quarter was marked by business activity from six of the seven freight rail carriers that have all the prerequisites for conducting rail transport in Croatia, and that only one new freight rail carrier was not operational during 2017.
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On the other hand, other freight rail carriers are recording a constant increase in business activity. The historical freight carrier, unlike private carriers, reduced its market share of transported goods from 85 percent in 2016 to 60 percent last year.
New freight rail carriers in the fourth quarter of 2016 had a 15 percent share of the total achieved ton-kilometers, while in the same period of 2017, the share increased to 28 percent.
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In passenger rail transport, the decline in the number of transported passengers continues to slow down. When comparing the fourth quarter of 2017 with the same quarter of 2016, there is a noticeable decline of one percent, but when observing the last quarter of 2017 with the previous quarter, there is a visible increase of 26 percent.
The number of achieved passenger kilometers in the fourth quarter is four percent lower compared to the same quarter of the previous year, but also 16 percent higher when comparing the fourth quarter with the previous one.
