Rail operation–infrastructure separation: the case of Kobe rapid transit railway

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

7-2004

Subject Area

organisation - regulation, mode - rail

Keywords

vertical separation, railway, infrastructure costs, efficiency, economic regulation

Abstract

Vertical separation in the rail industry is common in Europe, but evaluation of the policy has been insufficient. The main purpose of this paper is to explain one method of operation–infrastructure separation as practiced in the case of Kobe Kosoku, a unique rail infrastructure owning company in Japan, as well as to discuss practical coordination problems related to structuring separation. Our overall conclusion is that vertically separated systems do not have significant advantages over vertically integrated systems in terms of the maintenance costs of infrastructure. In fact, the results of our analysis of infrastructure maintenance costs indicate that vertically separated systems might not be significantly different from vertically integrated ones.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Transport Policy Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0967070X

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