Which access to which assets for an effective liberalization of the railway sector?

Patrice Bougette, Axel Gautier and Frédéric Marty
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Axel Gautier: HEC Liège, LCII, University of Liège, Belgium; CORE, UCLouvain, Belgium; CESifo, Germany

Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, 2021, vol. 22, issue 2, 87-110

Abstract: In the European rail industry, to enable competition in the market, entrants should be granted access to a large set of complementary services, beyond access to the tracks. For an efficient and effective entry, temporary access to quasi-essential complementary assets like rolling stock, mechanical maintenance workshops, data, schedules, etc. is required. In the liberalized rail sector, several observed anticompetitive practices involve distorted access to these quasiessential facilities. Therefore, competition agencies must deal with litigation between the incumbent and new entrants. Most cases have been settled, resulting in commitments from the incumbent. We argue that such transitory and case-by-case remedies fail to produce favorable conditions for a secure and efficient entry. Thus, we propose to systematize such remedies through asymmetric and enduring ex-ante regulation.

Keywords: Rail; liberalization; essential facility; anticompetitive practices; asymmetric regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Related works:
Working Paper: Which Access to Which Assets for an Effective Liberalization of the Railway Sector? (2021)
Working Paper: Which Access to Which Assets for an Effective Liberalization of the Railway Sector? (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:crnind:v:22:y:2021:i:2:p:87-110

DOI: 10.1177/17835917211012326

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