A new Swedish railroad policy: Separation of infrastructure and traffic production

Abstract

In 1988 the Swedish nationalized railway company was separated into two separate entities, the Swedish State Railways in charge of running rail transport and the National Rail Administration, responsible for investment in and maintenance of rail infrastructure. This paper describes institutional aspects of this new railway policy. It also specifies methodological and practical problems in the computation of social marginal costs for using rail as well as road infrastructure. It is furthermore made likely that present fuel charges on road vehicles, but not the new rail use charges, are insufficient to cover costs for infrastructure use.