> On regional railways, where the state pays for train operations, costs have gone down thanks to competition.
German here. Yes, costs have gone down thanks to competition, but at what cost?
IMHO, the cost of "competition" on regionals has been massive. A lot of infrastructure has had to be rebuilt (e.g. maintenance shops), a huge expense and waste of space (think about how long a regional train is - easily 150 meters [1], which means the shop has to be at least that long). Some operators chose to run with old, run-down rolling stock or go for the absolutely cheapest options. Others, and that has happened at least twice in the last few years, calculate their offers to be barely profitable and then a crisis (Covid, Russian invasion and energy cost explosion) hits, forcing the companies into bankruptcy. Cleanliness of trains, regular expulsion of toilets takes a hit as that's a very easy way to save a few hundred euros. In the case of demand surges (e.g. soccer games, Oktoberfest, Karneval), there's no way to ad-hoc add rolling stock and drivers because there are no spares and modern rolling stock isn't compatible with anything other than its specific model and configuration.
And some regional tender processes have gotten even worse, where the state prescribes or outright buys the rolling stock... and suddenly the only way the providers can compete is staffing cost.
Thanks but no thanks, I'd rather like the old system back!
> some regional tender processes have gotten even worse, where the state prescribes or outright buys the rolling stock
Isn't this done in an attempt to resolve some of the issues you mentioned?
If you don't want the absolute cheapest old run-down toilet-less rolling stock, the tender has to be quite specific about the minimum requirements the rolling stock is expected to meet. This in turn means an operator switch leaves the new operator having to quickly obtain a bunch of highly-specific rolling stock with the old operator having to get rid of a bunch of now-worthless highly-specific rolling stock.
The logical result is that the old operator sells the rolling stock to the new operator. Or, you have the rolling stock owned by a holding company, who leases it to whoever happens to be operating the tender. Same with the maintenance shops.
So why not cut out the middle man and have the rolling stock and maintenance shop be government-owned? The end result is the same, but it's cheaper for everyone involved.
Complaining about disastrous and unnecessary competition has a long and proud tradition.
> And some regional tender processes have gotten even worse, where the state prescribes or outright buys the rolling stock... and suddenly the only way the providers can compete is staffing cost.
Sounds pretty bad.
In Czechia, competition was a huge boon for the railways. I still remember the rusty, hopelessly dirty Communist trains with fake leather seats that glued your buttocks with sweat, "open hole" toilets that stank to high heaven in summer and froze your ass off in the winter. Nowadays, we usually ride in nice and clean trains, and on the main lines of some operators, there is a delivery service where you can order small snacks or even warm meals to your seat and get them. Compared to the past, it is a freaking luxury.
Maybe the problem that you described is German-specific. Over my lifetime, as I visited Germany, I noticed a steady drift towards lower quality in almost all public services, not just trains. As if the German voters just somehow stopped to demand or value quality of governance. IDK why, but it can be seen everywhere. And there is already a visible contrast in public cleanliness and order when you travel, say, from Zurich to Munich. Germany looks like a has-been.
That wasn't the case in the 90s. Back then, the difference between BRD and Schweiz was negligible.
My pet theory is that Merkel's 16 years of sleepy rule was too much. Most politicians need to fear replacement in order to do something. If the nation votes for the same person over and over again, there will be no real political competition.
But IDK how that works on the Länder level.
Absolutely the same change happened in Russia over the past 30 years or so, but it had nothing to do with privatisation or competition, all trains are still operated by the same state-owned corporation.