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The Underappreciated Connection between Rail Restructuring Strategies and Financing

  • Russell Pittman EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 23, 2018

Abstract

The railways industry is a capital-intensive industry requiring very large initial and ongoing investment streams. Proposals to restructure the traditional state-owned monopoly railway in a particular country are often designed to address concerns not only regarding inefficient operations and monopoly stagnation but also the long-term unreliability of government financing, especially of the expensive infrastructure. In this regard, the connection between the particular rail restructuring strategy chosen by a country and the ability of the restructured entity to attract financing, especially private financing, merits a closer look.

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful for productive discussions and helpful comments from participants in the Colloquium on Financing, Regulation and Performance of the European Rail Sector and from two anonymous referees. The views expressed are not purported to reflect those of the Department of Justice.

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Published Online: 2018-07-23
Published in Print: 2017-06-26

©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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