Saxony-Anhalt pledges financial support for Harz narrow-gauge railway
The state of Saxony-Anhalt will support Harzer Schmalspurbahnen GmbH (Harz narrow-gauge railway - HSB) with additional funds this year and next as part of the existing contractual relationship. "In this way, we want to give the company the necessary room for manoeuvre in challenging times," said Sven Haller, State Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Digital Affairs, following a meeting in Wernigerode today with District Administrator and Chairman of the HSB Supervisory Board Thomas Balcerowski, HSB Managing Director Katrin Müller and Peter Panitz, Managing Director of Nahverkehrsservice Sachsen-Anhalt GmbH (NASA).
Haller emphasised that it is crucial for the contract partners, which include the Land of Thuringia, that the company repositions itself strategically with the aim of limiting costs.
According to the State Secretary, the company will receive around €15 million from the State of Saxony-Anhalt for the transport contract and infrastructure costs until 2024. This support is to be increased by around €4.4 million in the current year and by an estimated €3.7 million in 2025.
HSB Managing Director Katrin Müller expressly thanked the state of Saxony-Anhalt for the very constructive discussions and the promised support. Looking to the next steps, she emphasised: "We will use the coming year to develop a future concept for 2030 together with the federal states and shareholders. In addition to the company's internal organisational structure, the focus will be on future timetable design, a sustainable vehicle concept and overall financing.
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Founded in November 1991, HSB was the first non-governmental railway company in the new federal states, with a total of twenty municipal shareholders in Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. In February 1993, HSB took over the narrow-gauge railways in the Harz Mountains from the Deutsche Reichsbahn, including the heavily frequented Brockenbahn.
In the more than three decades of its existence, the HSB has developed into a successful local transport company, characterised by the special features of historic steam operation and a strong tourist appeal.
Until the end of the 2010s, it was financed by fare revenues, shareholder contributions and, in particular, subsidies from the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia on the basis of the state agreements concluded in 1994. In addition, there was a transport contract with the Free State of Thuringia for local transport in the southern Harz region, which is provided as part of the 'Nordhausen model' with a mixed service using dual-system light rail trains operated by Verkehrsbetriebe Nordhausen (VBN) on the basis of capped flat-rate financing for operations and infrastructure.
The company has secured its economic success in recent years by increasing fare revenues and implementing extensive rationalisation measures. In 2021, funding in both federal states was switched to transport contracts and flat-rate infrastructure funding in Saxony-Anhalt, combined with a significant increase in financial contributions from the federal states and local authorities. In addition, these contributions from the transport contracts will be updated on the basis of economic indices.
Despite this significant improvement in operational security, HSB is currently in a challenging economic situation. The costs of energy, personnel and, in particular, vehicles have risen sharply during the recent crisis. In addition, there are problems with the availability of staff and the operational stability of the vehicles, as well as increasingly frequent storm events, which limit the time available to operate the line, especially the profitable Brocken route.
The Stadtbahn is therefore discussing with its shareholders and the two federal states how to overcome these challenges. This includes a review of the drive systems for future vehicles and the planned decarbonisation of the popular steam locomotives.