| 1. |
- Odolinski, Kristofer, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Damage or no damage from traffic : Re-examining marginal cost pricing for rail signalling maintenance
- 2023
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Ingår i: Transport Policy. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 0967-070X .- 1879-310X. ; 131, s. 13-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper re-examines the implementation of the short run marginal cost (SRMC) pricing principle with respect to rail infrastructure usage and empirically tests if there are rail infrastructure maintenance costs triggered by traffic but not caused by asset damage from traffic. This is important because current EU legislation stipulates that only costs related to infrastructure wear and tear from traffic are eligible for the direct cost-based element of track access charges. An econometric approach is applied to French panel data on signalling maintenance costs. The results show that the SRMC for infrastructure provision of these assets is not only related to asset damage costs caused by traffic, but can also be due to economic factors linked to increased line capacity utilisation: 1) higher cost per maintenance activity, and/or 2) increased preventative maintenance to curb delays. Our work offers an explanation as to why econometric and engineering approaches give different views of rail infrastructure cost variability and suggests that EU legislation on track access pricing may need to be revised. © 2022 The Author(s)
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| 2. |
- Odolinski, Kristofer, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Dynamics in rail infrastructure provision : Maintenance and renewal costs in Sweden
- 2018
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Ingår i: Economics of Transportation. - : Elsevier. - 2212-0122 .- 2212-0130. ; 14:June, s. 21-30
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we extend to the literature on marginal wear and tear cost estimation in railways, by applying a panel vector autoregressive model to rail infrastructure renewals and maintenance costs, using an extensive dataset from Sweden. This study is significant given the inherent difficulties in modelling the substantial renewals element of infrastructure costs, as well as the need to account for the dynamics in renewals and maintenance. The dynamic model allows us to estimate equilibrium cost elasticities with respect to train usage, which are significantly larger than their static counterparts. Overall, this work highlights that dynamics in rail infrastructure costs are important to consider when setting track access charges with respect to the wear and tear caused by traffic. This is particularly important given several countries, for example France, Sweden and Switzerland, are now setting access charges at marginal costs based on econometric studies.
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| 3. |
- Odolinski, Kristofer, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Rail Cost Functions
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Encyclopedia of Transportation. - Oxford : Elsevier. ; , s. 425-430
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Railways have an important role in the economic development in many countries. They have also undergone organizational transformations since their initial stages, where questions regarding ownership and regulations of production or pricing of goods and services have been at the center of attention. This can explain why rail transport and changes within this industry have early been one of the core subjects of economic analysis and transportation research, where the use of rail cost functions has been powerful. In particular, a rail cost function is a way to characterize the provision of rail transport and is an important tool for analyzing the railway system and its impact on the economy. It can be used to analyze the impact of different forms or conditions for rail transport provision such as effects of (de)regulation, the extent of economies of scale, scope or density, or for analyzing the impact of innovations and investments within this industry. The results can for example serve as input in forming new policies, in appraisal of transport investment, renewal and maintenance, or as means for analyzing the productivity and cost efficiency of rail transport. This paper addresses the specification and use of rail cost functions, how it may vary depending on the issue one wishes to address, and notes some of the challenges and recent developments within this field.
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| 4. |
- Smith, Andrew, et al.
(författare)
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Estimating the relative cost of track damage mechanisms : combining economic and engineering approaches
- 2017
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Institution of mechanical engineers. Part F, journal of rail and rapid transit. - : Sage Publications. - 0954-4097 .- 2041-3017. ; 231:5, s. 620-636
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper proposes a new, two-stage methodology to estimate the relative marginal cost of different types of vehicles running on the rail infrastructure. This information is important particularly where the infrastructure managers wish to differentiate the track access charges by vehicle type for the purpose of incentivizing the development and use of more track-friendly vehicles.EU legislation requires that the European infrastructure managers set the access charges based on the incremental (marginal) cost of the running trains on their networks. The novelty of the approach derives from the combination of: (1) engineering simulation methods that estimate the track damage caused by the rail vehicles; and (2) econometric methods that estimate the relationship between the actual maintenance costs and the different damage mechanisms. This two-stage approach fills an important gap in the literature, given the limitations of the existing single-stage engineering or econometric approaches in obtaining the relative marginal costs for different types of damage.The authors demonstrate the feasibility of the method using 45 track sections from Sweden, for which the data on maintenance costs are available together with relevant track and vehicle data for 2012 (supplied by the Swedish Transport Administration). The authors demonstrate the feasibility of producing summary, section-level damage measures for the three damage mechanisms (wear, rolling contact fatigue, and track settlement), which can be taken forward to the second stage. The econometric results of the second stage indicate that it is possible to obtain sensible relationships between cost and the different damage types, and thus produce relative marginal costs by the damage mechanism and in turn the vehicle type. Based on this feasibility study, tracksettlement has been found to be the most expensive (in terms of maintenance cost) of the three mechanisms, followed by the rolling contact fatigue and then the wear. Future applications should focus on larger datasets in order to produce the required degree of precision on the estimation of the marginal cost.
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| 5. |
- Smith, Andrew S. J., et al.
(författare)
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Estimating the damage and marginal cost of different vehicle types on rail infrastructure : Combining economic and engineering approaches
- 2015
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Ingår i: Stephenson Conference Research for Railways 2015. - : Institution of Mechanical Engineers. - 9781510855830 ; , s. 265-274
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- EU legislation requires that European infrastructure managers set access charges based on the marginal cost of running trains on their networks. Two methods have been used in the literature for this purpose. Top-down methods relate actual costs to traffic volumes. Bottom-up methods use engineering models to simulate damage and then translate damage into costs based on assumptions about interventions and their unit costs. Whilst top down methods produce sensible results for marginal cost overall, they have struggled to differentiate between traffic types. The challenge for bottom-up approaches is how to translate damage into cost, with numerous assumptions being required which may be invalid. This paper proposes a new, two stage approach to estimating the marginal cost of rail infrastructure usage. The first stage uses engineering models to simulate damage caused by vehicles on the network. The second stage seeks to establish a statistical relationship between actual costs and damage. It is thus possible to convert damage estimates into costs using actual cost data, rather than through a set of potentially invalid assumptions as in previous approaches. Only the first stage is implemented in this paper. We show that it possible to produce total (annualised) damage measures for three damage mechanisms on five actual track sections in Sweden. Once extended, it will be possible to model the relationship between damage and actual costs for the first time; and thus better understand the relative costs of the different damage mechanisms and in turn inform the level and structure of track access charges.
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| 6. |
- Smith, Andrew, et al.
(författare)
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The Measurement of Returns to Density and Scale for Heterogeneous Rail Infrastructure Technologies : Estimates for High-speed, Urban, and Classic-regional Lines in France
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Transport Economics and Policy. - : University of Bath. - 0022-5258 .- 1754-5951. ; 57:2, s. 77-103
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper utilises a unique data set to study the scale and density properties of rail infrastructure maintenance, distinguishing between different technologies existing within national rail systems; namely, urban, high-speed, and regional lines. We find differences in the position and shapes of the alter native technologies, with returns to scale and density properties varying by network type. Such technology-disaggregated cost structure characteristics have not previously been derived in the literature, and have implications for track access charges and rail way maintenance organisation. Additionally, the widely used translog functional form is shown to be insufficiently flexible to deal with the different technologies under consideration.
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| 7. |
- Smith, Andew, et al.
(författare)
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Why the Fixed-Effects Estimator May Not Be the 'Gold Standard' for Estimation of Economies of Density in Rail Transport
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Transport Economics and Policy. - : University of Bath. - 0022-5258 .- 1754-5951. ; 58:2, s. 207-226
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper proposes that exploitation of between-variation is required to estimate economies of density in railway datasets because of the need to capture the step-function impact of traffic on preventative maintenance regimes. Our empirical case is based on a panel dataset of 1,149 track sections (2013–18) for the French rail network. The work is important in the policy context in terms of setting rail track access charges in line with marginal cost principles and meeting EU legislative requirements; it also has implications for the wider rail cost-function estimation literature.
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| 8. |
- Stichel, Sebastian, Professor, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Estimating the marginal maintenance cost of different vehicle types on rail infrastructure
- 2021
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Institution of mechanical engineers. Part F, journal of rail and rapid transit. - : SAGE Publications. - 0954-4097 .- 2041-3017.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we combine engineering and economic methods to estimate the relative maintenance cost of different types of damage on the Swedish rail infrastructure. The engineering method is good at predicting damage from traffic, while the economic method is suitable for establishing a relationship between damage and cost. We exploit the best features of both methods in a two-stage approach and demonstrate its applicability for rail infrastructure charging, based on a sample of 143 track sections comprising about 11,000 km of track. The paper implements for the first time the method previously proposed in Smith et al., whilst also enhancing the method in several respects. We demonstrate how the estimated relative maintenance costs related to different damage mechanisms can be used to calculate the marginal cost of different vehicle types. The results are relevant for infrastructure managers in Europe who wish to differentiate their track access charges such that each vehicle pays its short run-marginal damage cost, which can support more efficient use of the rail infrastructure and influence vehicle design to minimize system costs.
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| 9. |
- Wheat, Phill, et al.
(författare)
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Applications of Production Theory in Transportation
- 2022
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Ingår i: Handbook of Production Economics. - Singapore : Springer. - 9789811034541 ; , s. 1491-1524
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this chapter, the experience of production and cost analysis in transportation is reviewed. The key production and cost analysis needs of the sector can be identified providing strategic operational insight, establishing evidence as to which market and regulatory structures yield best outcomes and providing the evidence base for regulatory scrutiny either through yardstick competition or more formal price cap regulation. The upshot of this is that transportation has provided the motivation and illustration for many innovations within production, cost, and efficiency methods, and this chapter brings to life the issues and solutions found in the sector.
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