Ministry of Infrastructure: Restructuring Hellenic Railways Organisation – OSE and subsidiary ERGOSE

A bill for the reorganization of Hellenic Railways Organisation – OSE and its project management subsidiary ERGOSE is being promoted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

The basic principles of the bill were presented during the cabinet meeting, on Tuesday, under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Kostas Karamanlis, and the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Giorgos Karagiannis.

In its basic principles, the bill provides for:

1. Separation of companies
With the bill, the companies OSE S.A. and ERGOSE S.A. are separated, with a clear separation of their responsibilities and all the shares of ERGOSE S.A. are transferred to the Greek State.

2. Role of the Ministry of Infrastructure & Transport
The Ministry will have the supervision of the two companies and through the National Strategic Transport Planning will determine the long-term planning of projects, while at the same time it is responsible for establishing the corporate governance framework of the companies.

3. Performance Agreements
The implementation of the plan will be monitored through annual performance contracts in terms of the achievement of the objectives between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and each of the two companies, according to their new responsibilities. The annual remuneration of the Presidents and Directors will depend on the achievement of these objectives.

4. Selection of Management
The election and composition of management will be the exclusive competence of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, based on the law on the Staff State. For the selection of the administrations, a Selection Committee will be set up consisting of at least three members: representative(s) of the Ministry, a representative of the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations S.A. and an independent evaluator with international experience in human resources matters.

5. Competencies of Companies
OSE – as the Infrastructure Manager – will undertake the management of the railway infrastructure and all the work required for the railway network to be in operation.

ERGOSE – as the Project Manager – will focus on undertaking new railway infrastructure projects outside the operational network, such as new rail routes and extensions of the existing network. ERGOSE will also undertake upgrade works on the existing network that require an interruption in the operation of the line (such as undergrounding the line), but the responsibility of the line will remain with OSE.

“Investments of 4.5 billion in railway projects”

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Kostas Karamanlis, among other things, pointed out that with this specific intervention he is part of the wider planning “with a vision, in 5 years from today, that Greece will have turned into a real hub of Southeast Europe. And we are achieving this with an investment plan of 4.5 billion in very important railway projects. We are proceeding to upgrade the role of our ports, connecting them with the railway, so that our country has the opportunity to play a leading role as a multiple hub for infrastructure, transport and energy in the wider region.

We place special emphasis on the ports of Thessaloniki and Alexandroupolis. In other words, we are changing the production model, so that all of this will have been implemented by 2028. Because now is the time to take advantage of the geopolitical and geostrategic position of Northern Greece and the port of Alexandroupoli. Now is the time to create a strong and reliable freight hub to bypass the straits to the Black Sea countries and further afield.”