Railway Finance in Europe

摘要

Governments make substantial contributions to the finance of railwaysrnin Europe. This paper first considers the possible justifications for subsidiesrn- namely normalisation of accounts, public service obligations, economiesrnof density, relief of externalities on other modes, wider economic benefits andrnoption values. It then considers the alternative ways of giving subsidies in thernform of contributions to infrastructure costs, investment grants and subsidies tornservices. It concludes that there are good reasons for subsidising railways - inrnparticular a first best argument for subsidising infrastructure will usually existrnand a failure to do so will lead to fewer services being operated than are economicallyrnjustified - but there is a need to ensure subsidies are used efficiently. Waysrnof achieving this include the setting of clear objectives and financial constraints,rndecentralisation of decision taking to focussed sector management, regulationrnand benchmarking of infrastructure costs and the introduction of competition forrnand in the market. Together these should reduce or eliminate the link betweenrnsubsidies and inefficiency observed in earlier times.