IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v108y2021icp11-20.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Railway access charges in China: A comparison with Europe and Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Kang, Zhaoxia
  • Nash, Chris A.
  • Smith, Andrew S.J.
  • Wu, Jianhong

Abstract

Although Chinese Railways remains largely a government owned vertically integrated system, track access charges were implemented for passenger trains in 2005 and freight trains in 2017. In recent years, many joint venture railway companies and local railway companies have been set up to bring in funding from provincial governments, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises for the construction of new lines. The coexistence of different railway enterprises and the interconnected characteristic of the railway network make the proportion of inter-rail company traffic for both passenger and freight high in China. Therefore, Chinese railways have adopted a series of revenue/cost settlement regimes reforms, including new rail access charges regimes. This paper examines these reforms, finding that the current Chinese access charges are still mainly a way to balance the accounts of rail companies. Given the revenue model of joint venture railway companies in China, the level of rail access charges is crucial for their financial performance. Moreover, the Chinese government has announced its intention of permitting open access competition, so the level and structure of track access charges will become much more important in future. Finally, this paper produces recommendations about how to reform the Chinese rail access charges regime for better adapting to the market needs in the future, in the light of European and Japanese experience.

Suggested Citation

  • Kang, Zhaoxia & Nash, Chris A. & Smith, Andrew S.J. & Wu, Jianhong, 2021. "Railway access charges in China: A comparison with Europe and Japan," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 11-20.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:108:y:2021:i:c:p:11-20
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.04.022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X21001256
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.04.022?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rothengatter, Werner, 2003. "How good is first best? Marginal cost and other pricing principles for user charging in transport," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 121-130, April.
    2. Jian >Hong Wu & Chris Nash, 2000. "Railway reform in China," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 25-48, January.
    3. Calvo, Francisco & De Oña, Juan, 2012. "Are rail charges connected to costs?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 28-33.
    4. Rotoli, Francesco & Valeri, Eva & Ricci, Stefano & Rizzetto, Luca & Malavasi, Gabriele, 2018. "An analysis of the railway access charges regime in the Italian context," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 20-28.
    5. Meunier, David & Quinet, Emile, 2009. "Effect of imperfect competition on infrastructure charges," European Transport \ Trasporti Europei, ISTIEE, Institute for the Study of Transport within the European Economic Integration, issue 43, pages 113-136.
    6. David Meunier & Emile Quinet, 2009. "Effect of imperfect competition on infrastructure charges," Post-Print halshs-00754407, HAL.
    7. Sánchez-Borràs, Marta & Nash, Chris & Abrantes, Pedro & López-Pita, Andrés, 2010. "Rail access charges and the competitiveness of high speed trains," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 102-109, March.
    8. Shuling Chen & Jianhong Wu & Yueqi Zong, 2020. "The Impact of the Freight Transport Modal Shift Policy on China’s Carbon Emissions Reduction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, January.
    9. Nash, Chris, 2003. "Marginal cost and other pricing principles for user charging in transport: a comment," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 345-348, October.
    10. Martha Lawrence & Richard Bullock & Ziming Liu, 2019. "China's High-Speed Rail Development," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 31801.
    11. David Meunier & Emile Quinet, 2009. "Effect of imperfect competition on infrastructure charges," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-00754407, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. Yu, Kemei & Wu, Jianhong & Wang, Kun & Zhang, Anming & Zheng, Shiyuan & Wang, Yixiao & Li, Hongchang, 2023. "Restructuring Chinese railways from a cost-efficient perspective—A hedonic cost function analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    3. Wang, Shaobo & Zhou, Yutao & Guo, Jianke & Mao, Jinhuang, 2023. "Did high speed rail accelerate the development of tourism economy? – Empirical analysis from Northeast China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 25-35.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Meunier, David & Quinet, Emile, 2012. "Applications of transport economics and imperfect competition," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 19-29.
    2. Jiang Qian Ying, 2015. "Optimization for Multiclass Residential Location Models with Congestible Transportation Networks," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(3), pages 452-471, August.
    3. Iannone, Fedele, 2012. "The private and social cost efficiency of port hinterland container distribution through a regional logistics system," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1424-1448.
    4. Vieira, João & Moura, Filipe & Manuel Viegas, José, 2007. "Transport policy and environmental impacts: The importance of multi-instrumentality in policy integration," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 421-432, September.
    5. Rotoli, Francesco & Valeri, Eva & Ricci, Stefano & Rizzetto, Luca & Malavasi, Gabriele, 2018. "An analysis of the railway access charges regime in the Italian context," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 20-28.
    6. Odolinski, Kristofer & Boysen, Hans E., 2018. "Railway line capacity utilisation and its impact on maintenance costs," Working papers in Transport Economics 2018:10, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI), revised 30 Oct 2018.
    7. De Rus Ginés, 2011. "The BCA of HSR: Should the Government Invest in High Speed Rail Infrastructure?," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 1-28, January.
    8. Nash, Chris & Matthews, Bryan, 2005. "Transport Pricing Policy and the Research Agenda," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, January.
    9. de Rus Ginés & Socorro M. Pilar, 2017. "Planning, Evaluation and Financing of Transport Infrastructures: Rethinking the Basics," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 143-160, June.
    10. Ugo ARRIGO & Giacomo DI FOGGIA, 2014. "Theoretical And Viable Charging Models For Railway Infrastructure Access: An European Survey," Management Research and Practice, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 6(2), pages 5-24, June.
    11. Deb, Kaushik & Filippini, Massimo, 2011. "Estimating welfare changes from efficient pricing in public bus transit in India," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 23-31, January.
    12. Robin Lindsey, 2006. "Do Economists Reach A Conclusion on Road Pricing? The Intellectual History of an Idea," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 3(2), pages 292-379, May.
    13. 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).
    14. Bugarinovic, Mirjana & Boskovic, Branislav, 2015. "A systems approach to access charges in unbundling railways," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(3), pages 848-860.
    15. Wang, Yunmin & Cao, Guohua & Yan, Youliang & Wang, Jingjing, 2022. "Does high-speed rail stimulate cross-city technological innovation collaboration? Evidence from China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 119-131.
    16. Jonsson, Lina & Björklund, Gunilla & Isacsson, Gunnar, 2019. "Marginal costs for railway level crossing accidents in Sweden," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 68-79.
    17. Delucchi, Mark, 2007. "Do Motor-Vehicle Users in the US Pay Their Way?," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt5841z3kx, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    18. Laurino, Antonio & Ramella, Francesco & Beria, Paolo, 2015. "The economic regulation of railway networks: A worldwide survey," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 202-212.
    19. Crozet, Yves & Chassagne, Florian, 2013. "Rail access charges in France: Beyond the opposition between competition and financing," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 247-254.
    20. Huang, Yan & Zong, Huiming, 2022. "The intercity railway connections in China: A comparative analysis of high-speed train and conventional train services," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 89-103.

    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:trapol:v:108:y:2021:i:c:p:11-20. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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/30473/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.