This paper utilises a unique dataset comprising of a hundred years of Australian railway history to develop a cost function for Australia's railways. It explores two different functional forms, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each, and explores some of the ramifications of the...

Until recently, Australia's State Government-owned railways operated almost entirely within their home states. This has begun to change, in response to the new dynamics unleashed by economic and structural reforms which began in the 1990s. The economic regulatory system that governs third party...

Railways offer significant potential to provide sustainable transport solutions, particularly for freight. To do this, however, they need to remain competitive with other modes of transport, and this requires productivity growth. The more productive railways can become, the better their...

Until recently, Australia's State Government-owned railways operated almost entirely within their home states. This has begun to change, in response to the new dynamics unleashed by economic and structural reforms which began in the 1990s. The economic regulatory system that governs third party...

The Australian Railways Business and Economics Conference was held in Perth, Australia, on July 20th 2009, bringing together 30 participants from industry, government and academia. The conference heard from six presenters: Paul Larsen – General Manager, Westnet Rail; Professor Tim Brennan –...

The notion that allowing third party access to the natural monopoly, below-rail track and signalling infrastructure might induce competitive entry in above-rail train operations has been a part of European and Australian rail policy since the early 1990s. However, competition has been slow to...

This project sought to examine the impacts of National Competition Policy (NCP) on investment in Australian general freight and passenger railways, and more generally to assess the rationale underlying NCP and related economic reforms applied to Australian railways. It does not appear that NCP...