RAILWAY COMMERCIALISATION AND COSTING

This paper considers how railway managers can organise their business, within an environment of railway reform, to plan, market and deliver services to their customers. It concentrates on the 'lines of business' (LOB) model, where a LOB is a defined set of commercial activities, for which financial performance can be measured, and for which a particular manager can be held accountable. LOB usually have the following levels: (1) the railway 'business' as a whole; (2) its main businesses; (3) profit centres; and (4) units for systematic and regular monitoring of commercial performance. When defining LOB, a railway should consider the criteria of: (1) markets; (2) operations; (3) geography; and (4) managerial economy. Options for relating railways' activities include: (1) ownership by LOB; (2) internal LOB; and (3) separate ownership. The two main uses of railway cost information are: (1) cost control; and (2) business management. The basic approach to railway traffic costing is straightforward, and attributes revenues and costs to each LOB; it is described in considerable detail. LOB has been applied to many railways, with widely different operating conditions; it is outlined for the railways of: (1) Australia; (2) Russia; and (3) Bulgaria. For the covering abstract see IRRD 870276.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Features: References;
  • Pagination: p. 131-43

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00681161
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
  • ISBN: 0-86050-274-0
  • Files: ITRD
  • Created Date: Jul 20 1995 12:00AM