Rail Infrastructure Charging Systems for High‐Speed Lines in Europe

Abstract

In the European railway framework, the expenses of rail infrastructure costs are partly covered by the governments and partly by the infrastructure managers through the infrastructure charges that operators pay to them for rendering services in the infrastructure they manage. However, the extent to which infrastructure charges cover infrastructure costs is higher for high‐speed lines (HSLs) than for conventional lines. This communication characterizes the infrastructure charging systems for HSLs implemented in Europe and analyses the level of charges applied to these lines with the aim of quantifying and analysing the mark‐ups above marginal cost that are being charged to high‐speed services running in the European HSLs. The survey covers France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Belgium. Neither The Netherlands nor the UK are covered: the former does not commercially exploit HSLs yet, whereas the latter renders passenger transport services by means of franchised passenger train operators. The results obtained show that, despite the great differences between charging systems for HSLs, important mark‐ups above marginal costs are applied by all the systems analysed and that common features between them can be established.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Ignacio Barrón de Angoiti (UIC—International Union of Railways) and Michel Leboeuf (SNCF) for their help to define some of the assumptions for the calculation of rail infrastructure charges. M. Sánchez‐Borràs would like to thank Chris Nash for his suggestions and comments on this paper during her three‐month stay at ITS (Institute for Transport Studies) under his supervision. She would also like to thank the Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and Aula COMSA for their financial support.

Notes

1. In the railway field, the marginal cost corresponds to the variation of infrastructure costs, when a unit of additional traffic uses the tracks. Charging mark‐ups above the marginal cost implies charging above the marginal cost.

2. On the one hand, the load component only applies to freight traffic and reflects the additional expenditure that heavy trains cause through increased wear and capacity consumption; on the other hand, the regional factor only affects local passenger trains.

3. RFI (2004) gives no explanation on the meaning of ‘R’.

4. Infrabel (2006) does not provide any explanation on the choice of the symbols.

5. Sánchez‐Borràs (2010) analysed the evolution of the level of rail infrastructure charges for European high‐speed links between 2006 and 2008 and concluded that the level of infrastructure charges for high‐speed links has remained fairly invariable.