Assessing the Cost Impact of Competitive Tendering in Rail Infrastructure Maintenance Services: Evidence from the Swedish Reforms (1999 to 2011)

Kristofer Odolinski () and Andrew S.J. Smith ()
Additional contact information
Kristofer Odolinski: VTI, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Andrew S.J. Smith: University of Leeds, UK, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

No 2014:17, Working papers in Transport Economics from CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI)

Abstract: This is the first paper in the literature to formally study the cost impact of competitive tendering in rail maintenance. Sweden progressively opened up the market for rail maintenance services, starting in 2002. We study the cost impacts based on an unbalanced panel of thirty-nine contract areas between 1999 and 2011, using econometric techniques. We conclude that competitive tendering reduced costs by around 11 per cent. Importantly, this cost reduction was not associated with falling quality; quite the reverse. We thus conclude that the gradual exposure of rail maintenance to competitive tendering in Sweden has been a success.

Keywords: Railway; Infrastructure; Maintenance; Tendering; Contract; Cost (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H54 L92 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2014-09-04, Revised 2015-05-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-reg, nep-tre and nep-ure
Note: Published in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy (JTEP), Volume 50, Number 1, January 2016, pp. 93-112.
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published as Odolinski, Kristofer and Andrew S.J. Smith, 'Assessing the cost impact of competitive tendering in rail infrastructure maintenance services: evidence from the Swedish reforms (1999-2011)' in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, 2016, pages 93-112.

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2014_017

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