Competitive tendering provides a way to introduce competition to railways whilst preserving an integrated network of services. It has been used for freight railways in some countries but is particularly attractive for passenger networks when subsidised services make competition between trains...

Over the past decade, privatisation has increasingly taken place in the public utility sector. Technological advances and policy shifts have diminished the perception that public utilities are natural monopolies requiring state ownership. However, the privatisation of such state-owned monopolies...