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Railway line capacity utilisation and its impact on maintenance costs

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  • Odolinski, Kristofer

    (CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI))

  • Boysen, Hans E.

    (CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI))

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse how railway maintenance costs are affected by different levels of railway line capacity utilisation. Previous studies have focused on the wear and tear of the infrastructure, while this paper shows that it is important to also acknowledge the heterogeneity of the maintenance production environment. Specifically, we estimate marginal maintenance costs for traffic using econometric methods on a panel dataset from Sweden and show that these costs increase with line capacity utilisation. The results are significant considering that current EU regulation (2015/909) states that track access charges can be based on marginal costs, with the aim of achieving an efficient use of available infrastructure capacity.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2018_010
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jrtpm.2018.12.001
    Note: Published in Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management, Volume 9, May 2019, Pages 22-33.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    maintenance; marginal cost; rail infrastructure; capacity; track access charges;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy

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