IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v59y2017icp116-123.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating the roles and powers of rail regulatory bodies in Europe: A survey-based approach

Author

Listed:
  • Benedetto, Valerio
  • Smith, Andrew S.J.
  • Nash, Chris A.

Abstract

European railways have been shaped by multiple reforms since the mid-1990s, covering industry structure, market opening and economic regulation. However, the literature has given little attention to the latter; namely the evolution and impacts of regulatory reforms amongst Europe's railways. This paper fills this gap by providing an up-to-date, bottom-up assessment of current rail regulatory practice in Europe. We develop a survey of economic regulators across Europe, thus complementing top-down studies of the impact of economic regulation by enabling a richer insight into regulatory activity and its impacts. The questionnaire is based on a review of the literature on ideal regulatory characteristics across multiple industries. Our results show that European rail regulators, in general, exhibit many of the features of ideal regulation; in particular around key features such as independence, resourcing, longevity and expertise, transparency and in turn stability and predictability. However, we find that rail regulatory bodies could take a more proactive role in shaping track access charges, given their importance in respect of efficient use of the network and maintaining non-discriminatory access. Importantly, there is also scope for regulators to play a greater role in regulating the efficiency and quality of infrastructure managers, and potentially becoming more involved in the designing stages of passenger market opening as it emerges; and these changes could deliver substantial beneficial impacts for rail users and funders across Europe.

Suggested Citation

  • Benedetto, Valerio & Smith, Andrew S.J. & Nash, Chris A., 2017. "Evaluating the roles and powers of rail regulatory bodies in Europe: A survey-based approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 116-123.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:59:y:2017:i:c:p:116-123
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2017.07.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X16304966
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2017.07.003?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. Gassner, Katharina & Pushak, Nataliya, 2014. "30 years of British utility regulation: Developing country experience and outlook," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 44-51.
    2. Rico Merkert & Andrew S. J. Smith & Chris A. Nash, 2012. "The Measurement of Transaction Costs - Evidence from European Railways," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 46(3), pages 349-365, September.
    3. Fleck, Robert K, 2000. "When Should Market-Supporting Institutions Be Established?," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 129-154, April.
    4. Álvarez-SanJaime, Óscar & Cantos-Sanchez, Pedro & Moner-Colonques, Rafael & Sempere-Monerris, Jose J., 2016. "Rail access charges and internal competition in high speed trains," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 184-195.
    5. Itf, 2011. "Better Economic Regulation: The Role of the Regulator," International Transport Forum Discussion Papers 2011/3, OECD Publishing.
    6. Beria, Paolo & Ramella, Francesco & Laurino, Antonio, 2015. "Motorways economic regulation: A worldwide survey," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 23-32.
    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. Mizutani, Fumitoshi, 2020. "A comparison of vertical structural types in the railway industry: A simple mathematical explanation model," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Phill Wheat & Alexander D. Stead & Yue Huang & Andrew Smith, 2019. "Lowering Transport Costs and Prices by Competition: Regulatory and Institutional Reforms in Low Income Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Branislav Bošković & Mirjana Bugarinović & Gordana Savić & Ratko Djuričić, 2021. "Challenges of Track Access Charges Model Redesign," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Allen, John G. & Newmark, Gregory L., 2021. "Access protocols for railroads: Reframing the infrastructure separation debate," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    5. 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.
    6. Casullo Lorenzo, 2017. "Rail Funding and Financing," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 125-141, June.

    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. Kilby, Christopher, 2005. "World Bank lending and regulation," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 384-407, December.
    2. Nakamura, Eri & Sakai, Hiroki & Shoji, Kenichi, 2018. "Managerial transfers to reduce transaction costs among affiliated firms: Case study of Japanese railway holding companies," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 102-110.
    3. Epstein, Bryan & Givoni, Moshe, 2016. "Analyzing the gap between the QOS demanded by PT users and QOS supplied by service operators," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 622-637.
    4. Douglas Pivatto & Rodrigo Nobre Fernandez & Helton Saulo & Andre Carraro, 2017. "Estimating the Optimal Time for a Road Concession Contract in Brazil," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(12), pages 44-53, December.
    5. Mizutani, Fumitoshi, 2020. "A comparison of vertical structural types in the railway industry: A simple mathematical explanation model," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Robert K. Fleck & F. Andrew Hanssen, 2018. "Path dependence and transitions from tyranny to democracy: evidence from ancient Greece," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 371-388, December.
    7. Arblaster, Margaret, 2018. "Regulation in markets facing uncertainty: The case of Australia," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 249-258.
    8. Huang, Wencheng & Zhang, Yue & Shuai, Bin & Xu, Minhao & Xiao, Wei & Zhang, Rui & Xu, Yifei, 2019. "China railway industry reform evolution approach: Based on the Vertical Separation Model," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 546-556.
    9. Estrin, Saul & Pelletier, Adeline, 2016. "Privatisation in Developing Countries: What Are the Lessons of Recent Experience?," IZA Discussion Papers 10297, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Bertoméu-Sánchez, Salvador & Camos, Daniel & Estache, Antonio, 2018. "Do economic regulatory agencies matter to private-sector involvement in water utilities in developing countries?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 153-163.
    11. Brand, Christina & Sieg, Gernot, 2020. "The impact of delays on the welfare effects of on-track competition: The case of transfer passengers with operator-tied tickets," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Estrin, Saul & Pelletier, Adeline, 2018. "Privatization in developing countries: what are the lessons of recent experience?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87348, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. José A. Gómez-Ibáñez, 2016. "Open Access to Infrastructure Networks: The Experience of Railroads," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 49(2), pages 311-345, September.
    14. Emmanuel, Bougna Tchofo & Crozet, Yves, 2014. "Beyond the “bundling vs unbundling” controversy: What is at stake for the French railway?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 393-400.
    15. Fleck, Robert K. & Hanssen, F. Andrew, 2010. "Repeated adjustment of delegated powers and the history of eminent domain," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 99-112, June.
    16. Desmaris, Christian, 2014. "The reform of passenger rail in Switzerland: More performance without competition," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 290-297.
    17. Shao, Zeng-Zhen & Ma, Zu-Jun & Sheu, Jiuh-Biing & Gao, H. Oliver, 2018. "Evaluation of large-scale transnational high-speed railway construction priority in the belt and road region," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 40-57.
    18. Kilby, Christopher, 2005. "Aid and regulation," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 325-345, May.
    19. Jiang, Changmin & Wang, Chunan, 2021. "High-speed rail pricing: Implications for social welfare," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    20. Volodymyr Bobyl & Oleksii Matusevych & Maryna Dron & Artem Taranenko, 2024. "The concept of forming a system of change management in the domain of railroad passenger transportation in Ukraine under the conditions of war," Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies, PC TECHNOLOGY CENTER, vol. 1(13 (127)), pages 14-21, February.

    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:59:y:2017:i:c:p:116-123. 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.