Efficiency Audit
As Slovenia’s national railway company, Slovenske železnice (SŽ) operates about 200 freight trains and 500 passenger trains per day. The company, which also offers road forwarding and logistics services through its Fersped branch, plays an essential role in linking the port of Koper to its European hinterland.
Improving Efficiency Before New Tracks Are Built
While several network sections have been electrified and upgraded in the recent past, operating trains in Slovenia in a reliable and profitable way is still a challenge. This is partly due to bottlenecks on single-track lines and to the need for new appropriate equipment. In addition, rail transport in Slovenia faces strong competition by other transport modes and by other Mediterranean ports. Upgrades such as a second track between Koper and Divača will improve the situation, but they will not be available in the near future. The SŽ management team thus intends to improve the efficiency of the company in the short term.
Paving the Ground for Action
TransCare’s review of SŽ‘s main activities was completed in two months. The findings resulted in a catalogue of fields for action covering measures as diverse as modernizing the locomotive fleet, reducing and centralizing administrative tasks, introducing alternative concepts for single wagonload deliveries and establishing a central warehouse serving both SŽ’s own maintenance departments and external freight customers. The recommendations are intended to serve as a basis for a future implementation project.
Our Services
- Aggregated inventory of services, revenues, employee numbers and costs for SŽ’s main activities (freight transport, forwarding/logistics, passenger transport, maintenance, infrastructure management)
- In-the-field analysis of single wagonload services in multiple regions
- Recommendation of fields for action for efficiency improvement through reduced costs or additional revenues (organization/centralization, alternative equipment/infrastructure etc.)
- Estimate of financial impact of each measure
