Rail infrastructure charging and on-track competition in Germany

Abstract

Germany was one of the pioneers amongst the European railways in opening up the network for third party access and introducing track access charging schemes. Several rail companies run services on the tracks of the incumbent company DB. This paper analyses the rules for network access, the track access charging scheme and the problems of competition in the rail market. The focus is on regional rail passenger transport due to the fact that this is the most lucrative and promising market for new entrants. The main result is that in this segment in particular non-DB companies have increasingly used the chances which were opened by (paid) access to DB tracks and competitive tendering by regional authorities. However, although their market share has grown DB is still the major carrier. The failure to set an appropriate institutional and regulatory framework has proven to be the major obstacle to a more intensive competition in the rail market.