Since the 1990s, efficiency and benchmarking analysis has increasingly been used in network utilities research and regulation. A recurrent concern is the effect of environmental factors that are beyond the influence of firms (observable heterogeneity) and factors that are not identifiable...

In this paper, we conduct a pan-European efficiency analysis to investigate the performance of European railways with a particular focus oil economics of vertical integration. We test the hypothesis that integrated railways realise economies of scope and, thus, produce railway services with a...