15.

Consider Ownership and Control of railway systems in terms of four options available to State-
owned railways according the World Bank and:

 Differentiate between Access and Ownership

 Identify and analyze the three most popular access options recommended by the World
Bank and elaborate on the pros and cons of each option

Access

This is when a national rail infrastructure is granted to a single operator. A single

train operator can use the track to propel passengers or freight but does not share

the railway network with other operators. The South African railway industry has

been for long been operating through exclusive national infrastructure as the network

is dominated by state monopolies. These state monopolies are dived into Passenger

Rail South Africa (PRASA) which concerns rail assets linked with passenger and

Transnet concerned with rail assets of freight rail.

-Today, many train operators share railway network and there are cases when two or more

operators want to use the same track capacity at the same time. The infrastructure manager must

then make priorities and reject some operators, and the question is which operators to reject. The

guiding principle is to grant the operators that provide the highest societal benefit access to the

tracks. It is stated by the Swedish law that the Swedish Transport Administration must consider the

societal benefits when planning how the railway infrastructure should be utilized. This means that

the aim at the Swedish Transport Administration is to grant access to trains such that the resultant

value of the train timetable is maximized in terms of societal benefits.

Ownership

Types of ownership

Negotiated Access

• Argentina• Japan• United States• New Zealand

• Vertically integrated railway controls access to its track

• No requirement for alternative operators to access track

• Commercially negotiated access

Mandated Access

• Australia• Canada/ United States• Chile• Mexico

• Vertically integrated railway controls access to a majority of its network

• Access is mandated for specific parties on selected routes where necessary

– insufficient competition

– economic efficiency

– need for passenger access

• Can be commercially negotiated subject to regulatory oversight

Open Access

• France• Germany• Netherlands• United Kingdom

• Qualified service providers permitted to operate on most of the network

• With a vertically integrated railway, Government requires railway to open tracks &

operators – accounting

Infrastructure – regulate

Companies contracting for the opportunity to manage maintenance and capacity.