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Contracting & Financing Options for the Czech High-Speed Rail
This international forum is a part of two-day event the Czech-French Railway Days 2023 of the Embassy of France in Prague and Business France Czech Republic.
The forum will take place on Friday, June 9, 2023 from 9 a.m. in the Chamber of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.
The new High-Speed Rail (HSR) is of critically need in the Czech Republic, as the capacity of the existing conventional rail lines on the main corridors, whose foundations were laid 180 years ago, has reached its maximum. The new HSR program will not only bring new lines, but it will also free up capacity for regional trains and especially freight traffic. It is also important for the long-distance Trans-European connections between Berlin-Prague-Vienna/Bratislava and the Baltic States-Warsaw-Brno-Vienna/Bratislava.
The HSR program involves development of 780 km of the new railway lines with a maximum speed up to 350 km/h based on SNCF’s standards. According to the current plan, 70 % of the HSR total investment program of €50 billion will be concentrated between years 2025-2035. In this period the HSR annual CAPEX needs of €5 billion will exceed the 10y historical average capital railway spending 5 times.
Given the unprecedented investment program, the private capital will undoubtedly play a key role in the delivery of the HSR program. Currently, the Czech Ministry of Transport is considering its potential strategic options for financing, and it is also testing feasibility for two pilot rail projects on a conventional network.
The forum will be divided into three panels:
I. Panel: The Czech High-Speed Rail Strategy in the Context of Europe – Lessons Learned from Delivery and Financing HSR in France and Great Britain.
II. Panel: Financing Models for High-Speed Rail in Europe – The Future Trends: Sustainable Finance, Green Bonds and Private Capital.
lll. Panel: Private Capital Delivering High-Speed Rail in Europe – Lessons Learned from the Successful PPP Projects – their Opportunities and Limitations.
Download the complete programme including all speakers HERE
Panelists:
Mikhail Nahorny
Mikhail Nahorny is the Managing Director leading the European practice of John Laing
He has over 12 years of experience in infrastructure investing having spent three years at Swiss Life Asset Management and 8 years at OMERS, the Canadian pension fund prior to joining John Laing in 2022. Before that, Mikhail advised corporate and financial clients at the M&A teams of Royal Bank of Canada and Citi, having started as a graduate at Royal Dutch Shell
Mikhail has extensive experience investing in and managing large infrastructure assets having been on Board of NET4GAS (Czech Republic), Autobahn Tank & Rast (Germany), and Societa Gasdotti Italia (Italy)
David Delgado Romero
David Delgado-Romero is an investment executive with more than 20 years of experience in international infrastructure and energy projects. David joined Meridiam in 2005 as part of the founding team. Prior to joining Meridiam David worked for public and multilateral organisations in the transportation sector. David is a Civil Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and graduate from Harvard School of Government. He also holds a M.Sc. in Transportation.
Christian Biegert
Christian Biegert is Executive Director for Central Europe at Vinci based in Prague, Czech Republic. With more than 20 years of industry experience, he is responsible for investments, execution, and asset management of major infrastructure projects in the region. He is member of Vinci Highways’ Management Board.
Christian began his career at the German engineering group Babcock Borsig followed by 10 years with the global leading construction company Hochtief. During this time, he was responsible for numerous major infrastructure projects in Europe and North America in the highways, airports and seaports sectors. Christian was country manager for Latin America and India & Middle East with postings to Santiago de Chile and New Delhi. Christian also worked with Macquarie in London in investment banking at one of the bank’s infrastructure funds.
In 2013, Christian joined the French group Vinci, a world leader in concessions, energy and construction, active in 120 countries, first in New Delhi, then Moscow and today in Prague. Christian studied Business Administration at Biberach University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and London South Bank University as well as Finance at INSEAD. Christian is a graduate from INSEAD’s Advanced Management Program (AMP) and is a certified Project Manager (IPMA).
Andrew McNaughton
Professor Andrew McNaughton is Chairman of the government company which acts as Infrastructure Manager of HS1 in Great Britain. He is also Professorial Fellow at the University of Southampton and Expert Advisor to the UK Government on major project design and cost. He has advised the Czech and Australian Governments on HSR Strategy and led the design of the British HS2. Before that he was Chief Engineer of the British railway network.
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Czech-French Business Meeting
Business France, a partner of this event, in cooperation with ARI is organising a Czech-French business meeting in the field of railways. The event will take place at the French Embassy in Prague on Thursday 8 June 2023 from 8:30 to 16:00.
More information and registration here or at lukas.indrak@businessfrance.fr.
