The first chapter of the book “Rail economics, policy and regulation in Europe”, sets the stage and recalls the fundamentals of rail economics and regulation in the context of de-regulation and re-regulation as promoted by the European Commission. It focuses on the specific role that regulation and regulators play – and are supposed to play – in the shaping of the European railway sector (past) or industry (future). It does so by considering the economic dimensions of railway de-and re-regulation, as opposed to the technical and safety dimensions. This chapter is divided into three distinct sections. The first section presents the European Commission’s (EC) history and programme of railway de-regulation and re-regulation, especially with regard to economic regulation. In the second section, we look at the underlying railway economics from the perspective of the main three types of rail market players that have emerged as a result of the EC’s de-/re-regulation initiatives; namely, infrastructure managers, train operating companies and station managers. The third section discusses the challenges for railway regulation, and European railway regulatory policy more generally, that result from the newly emerging and increasingly fragmented European railway industry structure.
The Brief explores pathways to promote a sustainable agricultural trade regime for the EU. We identify three challenges and propose three potential paths forward. We discuss potential implications of the [...]
The rewable energy resources within EU27 are highly dominated by wind and solar energy delivering electricity as output. As electrification is the most efficient way to deliver the energy services [...]
Manufacturing firms in the EU face the double challenge of decarbonisation and (international) competitive pressure. Based on the key findings of the 2024 EIB investment survey and considering the economic [...]
Regulation 1370/2007, as amended by the Fourth Railway Package, set the date of 25 December 2023 for the opening to competition of services subject to public service obligations. As opposed [...]
This policy brief contends that a new approach to Long Term Contracts (LTCs) in European competition policy based on new facts, new realities and a revised reasoning must be urgently [...]
In the North Seas region, a coalition of 9 countries expressed the ambition to quadruple their offshore wind capacity from 30 GW to 120 GW by 2030, and to then [...]
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