The Swedish Railway Deregulation Path

Abstract

This paper deals with railway deregulation and related reforms by means of a case study of Sweden, studying the 1988 split of railway infrastructure from operations and the subsequent steps of vertical and horizontal disintegration to a market characterized by decentralization and intra-modal competition. We also analyze the current market situation, in terms of the actors and their roles, and industrial organization measures. This assessment is used to discuss the sustainability of the current regulatory structure, concluding that although it seems more sustainable than in the past, regulators will sooner or later have to deal with some of its inconsistencies.