Government policy and rail transport in Western Europe

Abstract This paper presents evidence showing that the performance of Western European railways in terms of market share, traffic trends and support requirements varies greatly, and seeks to discover how far such differences may be accounted for by government policies. It is found that, in the passenger sector, the prices charged and the mix of services operated are very influential in determining both market share and support requirements, and that these decisions are almost entirely conditioned by government policy. Performance in the freight sector, which is much more commercially oriented, is more readily explained in terms of geographical differences, which result in some countries having far more suitable traffic for rail transport than others.