Originally published December 23 2004
DSB, the Danish state-owned railway company, sells train tickets for foreign travel at a considerably higher price than the Copenhagen branch of its German counterpart, Deutsche Bahn. As a result, the Danish Competition Authority is investigating whether there is collusion between the parties.
Tickets for foreign travel bought from the Danish department of Deutsche Bahn cost 30% to 40% less than the same tickets bought from DSB.
Niels Rytter of the Competition Authority stated that although there are various possible explanations for price differences, such a major price difference gives rise to suspicion and should therefore be investigated.
The Copenhagen branch of Deutsche Bahn does not advertise the cheaper prices - the branch manager told a newspaper that this was due to an agreement with DSB that it would not do so. Any such agreement is of major interest to the Competition Authority.
However, the DSB sales manager has maintained that DSB and Deutsche Bahn have the same price structure for cheap tickets, and that the comparison is wrong. He has further said that the Competition Authority is welcome to visit DSB as it has nothing to hide.
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