Lisbon, Jan. 24, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's incumbent train operator CP will be compensated by the state to the tune of €23.6 million, plus VAT, for the €20 Rail Pass from 2024 to 2025, according to a cabinet resolution published on Friday.
The document published today in the Diário da República amends the cabinet resolution of June 12, authorising an "increase in the overall value of the expenditure relating to the financial compensation to be paid by the State to CP - Comboios de Portugal, E. P. E., for the fulfilment of the obligations for the public service obligations in passenger rail transport, in the period from 2024 to 2025, [...] by €23,661,375, plus value added tax".
This increase is intended "exclusively to compensate for the public service obligations arising from the creation of the Green Rail Pass", that costs €20 a month, which covers urban trains in Lisbon and Porto, on routes outside their respective metropolitan areas, urban trains in Coimbra, as well as regional, interregional and Intercidades trains in second class.
Thus, the planned compensation of €84,396,072 for 2024 is increased to €89,128,347, and the €79,329,754 calculated for 2025 is increased to €98,258,854.
When the Green Rail Pass was presented at the beginning of October, the government said that CP would be compensated €18.9 million per year, via a public service contract with the state, for the loss of revenue expected with the entry into force of the Green Rail Pass.
For example, a normal ticket on the Intercidades service for a Lisbon - Porto one-way journey in second class currently costs €27.40, more than the value of the monthly pass that came into force on 21 October.
"CP will be reimbursed to the last cent of what it could hypothetically lose. It could even gain if we increase the number of people paying. We could even rebalance the accounts," Miguel Pinto Luz, Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, told reporters at Santa Apolónia Station in Lisbon on the day the Green Rail Pass came into force.
On 8 October, CP's Workers' Committee considered that the government's planned compensation to the company for the new pass, €18.9 million, was insufficient, a statement that led to "surprise and repudiation" on the part of CP's president, Pedro Moreira, who said that the company had rigorously calculated the amount.
According to the government, 100,700 green rail passes were sold in the first three months.
MPE/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
