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The HSR competition in Italy: How are the regulatory design and practices concerned?

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  • Desmaris, Christian
  • Croccolo, Fabio

Abstract

Italy is nowadays the only European country to have organized a head-on competition on its whole high speed railway (HSR) network. This paper discusses the issues of this new market structure for the Italian Rail Regulator, both in terms of regulatory design and economic regulation practices. Such HSR competition and regulation took place in a very specific and ambivalent context (including declining Italian railway demand, negative European macroeconomic environment), together with a new ambitious and innovating private competitor (NTV) and strong reactions from the incumbent (Trenitalia). The Italian Rail Regulator's interventions look like more or less a set of everyday life decisions and empirical trade-off than a duly achieved economic doctrine and policy. The level of access charges seems to be a strategic variable to enlarge the scope for profitable entry in Italy. However, this new context still does not answer the question whether HSR operators reach their economic equilibrium in open access competition.

Suggested Citation

  • Desmaris, Christian & Croccolo, Fabio, 2018. "The HSR competition in Italy: How are the regulatory design and practices concerned?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 290-299.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:69:y:2018:i:c:p:290-299
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2018.05.004
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    Cited by:

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    2. Wang, Yixiao & Pels, Eric & Teunter, Ruud H. & Sun, Luoyi & Wu, Jianhong, 2023. "Railway liberalization, airport congestion toll, and infrastructure pricing: Modelling and numerical analysis for European and Chinese markets," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    3. Beria, Paolo & Lunkar, Vardhman & Tolentino, Samuel & Pařil, Vilém & Kvasnička, Michal, 2023. "Long-distance rail in Europe: Comparing the forms of head-on competition across Europe," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. Ristić, Bojan & Stojadinović, Nikola & Trifunović, Dejan, 2022. "Conditions for effective on-track competition in the European passenger railway market: A yardstick for regulations," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 1-15.
    5. Christian Desmaris, 2016. "High Speed Rail Competition in Italy: A Major Railway Reform with a “Win-Win Game”?," International Transport Forum Discussion Papers 2016/11, OECD Publishing.
    6. Laroche, Florent, 2024. "Goodbye monopoly: The effect of open access passenger rail competition on price and frequency in France on the high-speed paris-Lyon line," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 12-21.
    7. Carlos Romero & Clara Zamorano & Emilio Ortega & Belén Martín, 2021. "Access to Secondary HSR Stations in the Urban Periphery: A Generalised Cost-Based Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, November.
    8. Beria, Paolo & Tolentino, Samuel & Filippini, Gabriele, 2020. "Are prices reduced from direct competition in high-speed rail? Some unexpected evidences from Italy," MPRA Paper 98841, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Florent Laroche & Ayana Lamatkhanova, 2020. "Effects of open access competition on prices and frequencies on the interurban railway market: evidence from Europe," Working Papers halshs-02930864, HAL.
    10. Florent Laroche & Ayana Lamatkhanova, 2021. "Effects of open access competition on prices and frequencies on the interurban railway market: evidence from Europe," Post-Print halshs-02930864, HAL.
    11. Carlos Augusto Olarte Bacares & Julien Brunel & Damien Sigaud, 2019. "Influence of the evolution of high-speed railway infrastructure on the success of Italian liberalization," Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, , vol. 20(2), pages 113-137, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rail market; Regulation; High-speed; Open access; Competition; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy
    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L43 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Legal Monopolies and Regulation or Deregulation
    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy

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