HAMBURG Cologne Express (HKX) is Germany's second largest long-distance passenger operator after German Rail (DB) and we became the first to take advantage of the liberalisation of the sector when we launched our first services 14 months ago. We set up HKX because we felt that the rail travel market in Europe will support competition. However, the market is being distorted by discrimination in key parts of the value chain, namely access to track and sales infrastructure.