After collecting information on 166 high-speed rail (HSR) projects across the world, this paper examines some of the most relevant empirical issues related to the implementation of this transport technology in recent years. We firstly discuss the economic definition of HSR, trying to identify...

In this paper we critically assess some economic principles underlying the European transport policy in recent years. In particular, our analysis focuses on three main ideas. The first one is the promising role played by the vertical unbundling of transport infrastructures and services as a key...

This paper discusses several competition issues that have emerged in the Latin American rail industry after the recent restructuring experiences started during the 1990s. The analysis focuses on Brazil and Mexico providing a brief account of the main characteristics of the concessioning process...

Numerous countries have attempted to improve the performance of their railways by introducing more competition, but there is fierce debate and no consensus on how this is best achieved. This book reveals how railways were an obvious target for reform because they were often losing traffic and...

The changes faced by the global rail industry in recent years have brought a redefinition of some of the traditional regulatory instruments available in this sector. This paper, focusing on price and quality regulation, discusses how these instruments have been applied in several countries where...

This book concerns the regulation of transport within a European context, covering air, inland waterways, rail, road passenger and freight, urban public transport, and short sea shipping. All these sectors have experienced substantial changes over the last two decades, in terms of ownership,...

After a brief historical overview of its main achievements, this paper examines some of the most relevant characteristics of the Spanish rail system and its performance in recent years. It particularly focuses on the new organizational model emerging from the 2003 Railroad Law which, after...

High Speed Railways (HSR) is currently regarded as one of the most significant technological breakthroughs in passenger transportation developed in the second half of the 20th century. At the beginning of 2008 there were about 10,000 kilometres of new high speed lines in operation around the...

When major investors own shares in several firms in the same industry, the traditional approach to concentration measurement by the Hirschman--Herfindahl Index (HHI) fails to accurately reflect the level of competition in the market. To address this problem we derive a generalized HHI formula...