As rail represents an efficient and sustainable transport system, the Trans-European railway network has become subject to special attention from European transport policy. The political objectives are to shift 30 % of freight to rail by 2030, 50 % by 2050, and to reduce passenger trips on road...

The paper asks how the modal shift from road to rail in the freight sector is sup-ported by institutional change. Following North (1990), institutions are understood as the "rules of the game" in the rail freight sector. Based on the literature on institutional change, four different...