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...

Productivity growth in Australia's railways through the 20th Century was neither smooth nor uniformly positive. It was static or falling for much of the century, before increasing rapidly with dieselisation and the rise of minerals traffic. This paper uses regression analysis to develop an...

The railways used to transport iron ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia are subject to State Agreement Acts. Each of these contains some form of access clause, for third-party trains. Most are very similar. All are contained below, for the reference of whomever needs them, copied and...

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...

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...