CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT OF PASSENGER SERVICE
Since the concession was granted, the passenger transport business has experienced contrasting trends: a phase of decline between 1999 and 2004, a phase of stabilization between 2004 and 2008, and a phase of accelerated recovery since 2008, interrupted in the last quarter of 2016 by the Eséka accident.Eséka.
1st Phase:
a period of regression
1999 to 2004
2nd Phase
a period of stabilization
2004 to 2008
3rd Phase:
A PERIOD OF RECOVERY
SINCE 2008
1st Phase: 1999 to 2004: a period of regression
At the time of the concession, passenger transport activity was in steep decline. Under Regifercam, passenger traffic, which had reached 2 million passengers in the early 1990s, fell to 1.2 million between 1998 and 1999.
As the concession agreement provides for the concessionaire to be subject to public service obligations, subject to public contributions to cover its deficits, between 1999 and 2001 CAMRAIL signed 8 special agreements with several ministries and government departments (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Forestry, Fauna and Flora).
Because of the Treasury's difficulties in honoring the State's commitments to compensate for the deficit in passenger services, this policy has not been able to halt the fall in traffic, which fell to 1 million passengers in 2004.
2nd Phase: 2004 to 2008: a period of stabilization
In 2002 - 2003, CAMRAIL and its Delegating Authority entered negotiations to relaunch the passenger business and improve cost control.
These negotiations led to the signing of a Passenger Transport Agreement (dated December 3, 2003), which determined the range of services to be provided, as well as the method for calculating deficits and public subsidies; the setting up, within CAMRAIL, of a management unit (MOBIRAIL) with separate accounts to monitor passenger transport; the setting up of a joint monitoring committee, the CTV (Passenger Transport Committee [PTC]), to monitor activity; and the negotiation of financing (with the AFD and the EIB) to acquire 5 railcars to improve the quality of services offered.
This new policy has helped to stabilize business and kick-start a recovery in traffic, which rose by almost 20% over the period, from 1 to 1.2 million passengers a year.
SINCE 2008: A PERIOD OF RECOVERY
Given the political and social importance of passenger transport, CAMRAIL and its Delegating Authority have undertaken to boost passenger traffic, by deciding to increase the resources needed to renew passenger rolling stock and launch a new investment plan.
As part of Avenant n°2 of November 4, 2008, which redistributed the investment responsibilities of the State and CAMRAIL, a PTC (Passenger Investment Account) was created alongside the CIF (Railway Infrastructure Account), which is responsible for financing infrastructure investments.
The PTC reflected the Parties' desire to transfer the burden of passenger transport investments to the State; the PTC was to be replenished by contributions from the State and Donors.
Rider n°2 provided for the CIV to mobilize funding of 11.5 billion FCFA, which was to be devoted to the implementation of an ambitious investment plan covering the acquisition of 3 locomotives, 312nd class carriages, 141st class carriages, 4 restaurant-bars and 4 vans.
The revival of passenger transport activities was also accelerated with the drafting, at the request of the CTV, of a new Passenger Transport Agreement, which was signed on February 4, 2011 and came into force on April1, 2012.
The new agreement introduced a more incentive-based subsidy mechanism and a new performance and service quality plan, backed by a profit-sharing and penalty mechanism.
It redefined the applicable transport plan, and set out precise procedures for monitoring transport costs, as well as the method for determining the balancing subsidy.
The additional financial resources earmarked for passenger services (even if only partially implemented) have enabled CAMRAIL to step up measures to improve services (passenger reception, work in stations and waiting rooms, modernization of equipment, etc.) and to significantly increase traffic, which reached 1.6 million passengers in 2015.
