Rail reform models

Railways have been investigated on a fairly continuous basis throughout the postwar period, with the last few years seeing some serious changes to ownership and operations. These changes are usually referred to as "reforms", with the connotation of some improvement having occurred. The paper examines the policies underlying the reforms to railways which have been undertaken in the 1990s. The reforms which have taken place are classified into a number of models in terms of ownership, organisation structure and access arrangements. The National Competition Policy has driven many of the recent reforms but it is argued that aspects of it have been misinterpreted in the application to interstate rail freight. Railways have traditionally supplied freight and passenger services, but in this paper we concentrate almost exclusively on interstate freight services as they have been subject to most reform, have more potential to be provided on a commercial basis and are subject to competition from road transport services. By drawing on experience with different approaches to railway reform in other countries, an attempt is made to assess the reforms adopted in terms of reductions in the costs of service provision and consequently in the impact on economic welfare.

• Record URL:
  http://www.atrf.info/papers/1999/1999_Starrs.pdf
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0730724905
• Authors:
  • Starrs, M
• Conference:
  • Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF), 23rd, 1999, Perth, Western Australia
• Publication Date: 1999

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 59-75
• Serial:
  • Volume: 23
  • Issue Number: Part 1

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Economic analysis; Economics; Evaluation; Freight transportation; Interstate transportation; Policy; Policy, legislation and regulation; Railroad transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Transport costs
• Geographic Terms: Australia
• ATRI Terms: Competition; Economic analysis; Evaluation; Freight transport; Interstate; Policy; Rail transport; Transport costs; Transport economics; Transport regulation
• Subject Areas: Economics; Freight Transportation; Policy; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01394349
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• ISBN: 0730724905
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Aug 23 2012 11:39AM