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EU: antitrust regulators fine train operators’ cartel

By  |  July 15, 2015

German logistics company Schenker, part of Deutsche Bahn , and a unit of Austrian train operator Osterreichische Bundesbahnen were fined a combined 49 million euros on Wednesday for fixing prices over an eight-year period.

The European Commission said Swiss peer Kuehne und Nagel International AG, which was part of the group, alerted the cartel to the authorities and was not penalised.

“The three companies fixed prices and allocated customers for their “Balkantrain” and “Soptrain” services in Europe for nearly eight years,” the EU antitrust authority said in a statement.

Balkantrain connects western Europe to the central region while Soptrain connects central Europe with Romania.

The Commission said the cartel operated in blocktrain services, which is a rail shipping system to transport cargo from one hub to another without splitting up the wagons, between July 2004 to June 2012.

Full content: Railway Gazette

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