New solutions for administration, production and funding of the transport system in Finland

The Finnish transport system and infrastructure maintenance were studied from the points of view of traffic corridors, customers, administration, production, industry and funding. Three proposals were developed that address the following questions: efficient and customer-driven organisation of transport and infrastructure administration; the increased value and competitiveness of the transport sector including the state enterprises and companies; and meeting the financial deficit in the transport infrastructure. Today, Finland has a system where each mode of transport has its own administration. This disjointed, fragmented organisation means that know-how and expertise in the country are very much scattered. It is proposed that the core competencies and functions of the separate infrastructure agencies be integrated into two organisations from the beginning of 2004 to form the Transport and Infrastructure Administration and an independent small Traffic Safety Regulatory Authority. Within this new structure, the Transport and Infrastructure Administration would be responsible and have the competence for strategic planning, service standards and management of the transport system, the development of the transport sector and markets, management of the related impacts and information, management of customer relations and PR, infrastructure tendering and purchasing, data and information management, as well as administrative and support services. For reasons of neutrality, it is imperative that safety operations are handled separately from passenger operations, infrastructure maintenance and tendering and purchasing in the Traffic Safety Regulatory Authority. The second main proposal concerns the next phase in developing the structures of production and increasing the efficiency of production. It is proposed that the two state-owned production units, the Track Ltd in the Group of Finnish State Railways and the Road Enterprise, be reorganised as market-driven companies. Earlier structural reforms in the administrative sector under the Ministry of Transport and Communications and their beneficial impacts on competition have brought an annual increase of 10-20% in cost-effectiveness. The third proposal concerns the funding of major upcoming investments in the transport infrastructure, on which decisions still remain open, as well as the idle capital assets in the sector of Ministry of Transport and Communications that need to be put to productive use. Provided that no changes are made to the current spending limits in the state budget, the proposal of internal rearrangements with the transport sector would generate an estimated 1.1 billion euros and meet the infrastructure funding shortfall. The key investments and measures will be completed within a time frame of about eight years. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126595.