Infrastructure access charges, service differentiation, and strategic competition in the EU railway passenger market.

Abstract

ince the beginning of the XXI century, four legislative railway packages have come into force in the EU. Increasing competition, enhancing the supervision of national authorities responsible for railway activities, and encouraging private and public investment are the main targets. Accordingly, EU Member States have adopted a variety of legislative acts.1 The current framework for an effective liberalization of the railway passenger sector has been defined in the 4th Railway Package, in particular the amended Directive 2012/34/EU and Regulation 1370/2007. In this paper, we focus on the effect of liberalization on long distance railway passenger services. On the way towards liberalization, other sectors such as air transport, telecommunications and postal services, merely eliminate exclusive rights in order to allow the entry to new operators.