Public and Private Provision of Railway Services: A Case Study from Slovakia

JURIKOVIČ, Martin and Zdeněk TOMEŠ. Public and Private Provision of Railway Services: A Case Study from Slovakia. Review of Network Economics. WALTER DE GRUYTER GMBH, 2017, vol. 16, No 2, p. 187-201. ISSN 2194-5993. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1515/rne-2017-0037.

Basic information

• Original name: Public and Private Provision of Railway Services: A Case Study from Slovakia
• Authors: JURIKOVIČ, Martin (703 Slovakia) and Zdeněk TOMEŠ (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Review of Network Economics, WALTER DE GRUYTER GMBH, 2017, 2194-5993.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 50202 Applied Economics, Econometrics
• Country of publisher: Germany
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 0.357
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14560/17:00104020
• Organization unit: Faculty of Economics and Administration
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/rne-2017-0037
• UT WoS: 000441915900009
• Keywords in English: competition; ownership; rail usage; railways; subsidies
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

This paper is aimed at evaluating the net gains and trade-offs at stake in implementing the competition of the rail mode in the long distance passenger market either by means of franchise or by an open access mechanism. We simulate the outcomes of competition in and for the market using a differentiatedproducts oligopoly model allowing for inter- and intra-modal competition in a long distance passenger market. Specifically we first calibrate the model using data describing high speed lines in France and show that the incumbent railway operator’s strategy does not simply boil down to a short-term profit maximization (e.g. because of existing regulation or limit-pricing strategy). This yields two important results when simulating competition. First, whether it is for or in the market, the opening to competition does not guarantee a decrease in prices in favor of passengers. Second, the effects of opening up to competition for the market are relatively predictable and potentially positive, while those of opening up to competition in the market remain very uncertain.