The European Commission has fined Lithuanian railway company Lietuvos Geležinkeliai an amount of EUR 27.8 million for hindering competition on the rail freight market, in breach of EU antitrust rules, by removing a rail track connecting Lithuania and Latvia.
In 2008, Orlen, a major commercial customer of Lietuvos Geležinkeliai, considered redirecting its freight from Lithuania to Latvia by using the services of another rail operator. In October 2008, Lietuvos Geležinkeliai dismantled a 19 km 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.
“Lithuanian Railways used its control over the national rail infrastructure to penalise competitors in the rail transport sector. 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,” Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said.
Share on:
