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Beyond the “bundling vs unbundling” controversy: What is at stake for the French railway?

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  • Emmanuel, Bougna Tchofo
  • Crozet, Yves

Abstract

This paper uses qualitative and comparative analysis to reveal two important findings. First, in France, if the aim of reform announced by the Minister is to re-build the SNCF's monopoly, our fear is that, instead of stimulating French railways, this will cause a downward slide in the sector by threatening its production and costs. In this context, the key aspect of the reform required by the fourth railway package is to create a real separation between the rail operator and the infrastructure manager. Second, our comparative analysis of the performance of the French and German railway systems shows the financial indicators in the two countries to be almost identical, except that Germany has higher productivity indicators than France. This result shows that France, instead of focusing on reducing transaction costs - which only represent 2% of the total costs, should give priority to productivity gains. It is imperative to implement a programme in France that aims to revive productivity in the railway sector, for example by reducing the workforce.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuel, Bougna Tchofo & Crozet, Yves, 2014. "Beyond the “bundling vs unbundling” controversy: What is at stake for the French railway?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 393-400.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:48:y:2014:i:c:p:393-400
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2014.09.072
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    Cited by:

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    3. Mu, Rui & de Jong, Martin & Ma, Yongchi & Xi, Bao, 2015. "Trading off public values in High-Speed Rail development in China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 66-77.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regulation; Transaction costs; Production costs; Productivity gains;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L50 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - General
    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy

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