IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v190y2024ics0965856424002866.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Welfare implications of a mixed ownership-operations structure of high-speed train

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Chunan
  • Chen, Ruotian
  • Jiang, Changmin

Abstract

In most European and Asian countries, the owner of the high-speed train (HST) track is either fully independent from, or integrated with, the operations of train service. In this paper, we build a simple model to analyze a particularly unique ownership structure of HST infrastructure, namely, a mixed structure featuring both integration and separation within a network. We compare this mixed case with the scenario where ownership and operations of HST are integrated and identify a conflict between social welfare (consumer surplus) and HST profit. Specifically, consumer surplus and social welfare are higher in the mixed case (compared with the integrated case), while the profit of the HST industry is lower if any of the following conditions holds: 1) the size of the market, where ownership and operations may be separated, is sufficiently small; 2) the weight that the HST operator puts on social welfare is sufficiently small; 3) the fee paid by the infrastructure owner to HST operator for operational services is sufficiently high. Our results prove to be robust when there exists competition from airlines. Additionally, we observe consistent outcomes when varying the weights on social welfare. Finally, several policy implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Chunan & Chen, Ruotian & Jiang, Changmin, 2024. "Welfare implications of a mixed ownership-operations structure of high-speed train," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:190:y:2024:i:c:s0965856424002866
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2024.104238
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856424002866
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2024.104238?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:190:y:2024:i:c:s0965856424002866. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.