Creating Competition in the Railway Industry

Throughout the world, the rail industry historically has been one of the most extensively regulated of all industrial sectors. In the past three decades however, policymakers and economists have become increasingly critical of traditional regulation of the rail industry and it is generally accepted that in markets where transportation carriers seek to meet demand, there is habitually effective competition. Today, facilitating competition in the railroad transport industry is frequently seen as beneficial. Introducing competition enhances efficiency and innovation in the competitive rail activities, enhances the range and variety of products available to consumers, and focuses the regulatory interventions on the core of the underlying network market problems. This book examines the underlying policies and tools to promote competition in the railroad market. Two of these tools, vertical separation and the enforcement of intramodal competition, are examined in more details. This book aims at decision makers faced with the regulation of railroad industry and people interested in the actual and future setting of railroad competition all over the world.