D2 (NRP 41) - Railways: Competition and Basic Mobility
Overview
Background & policy context:
The NRP 41 was launched by the Federal Council at the end of 1995 to improve the scientific basis on which Switzerland's traffic problems might be solved, taking into account the growing interconnection with Europe, ecological limits, and economic and social needs. The NRP 41 aimed to become a think-tank for sustainable transport policy. Each one of the 54 projects belongs to one of the following six modules:
- A Mobility: Socio-institutional Aspects
- B Mobility: Socio-economical Aspects
- C Environment: Tools and Models for Impact Assessments
- D Political and Economic Strategies and Prerequisites
- E Traffic Management: Potentials and Impacts
- F Technologies: Potentials and Impacts
- M Materials
- S Synthesis Projects
Objectives:
- Analysis of the rail reform 1996/99 in Switzerland and reforms in other countries.
- Development of new reform models, which are feasible - technically as well as economically.
- Comparison of the rail reform 1996/99 with the reform model and further: derivation of suggestions for reengineering public transport in Switzerland.
Methodology:
The report presents the rail reforms of Germany, France, the UK, and Sweden, and compares them to those taking place in Switzerland. The report illustrates the general features of the reforms, the influences from politics, and the regulations for competition and corporate structures for each country. Solutions vary greatly with regard to their political foundations and also their entrepreneurial viewpoints. Switzerland has chosen a combined solution comprising elements from various models. The research study makes the distinction among three reform models (A, B and C) characterised by different levels of links I, II and III (level I as the provision of rail transportation; level II as system control; and level III as the development and operation of rail infrastructure).
- Description of the three reform models and selection of the best one for further comparison and evaluation.
- Comparison of the Swiss rail reform with the reform models, with focus on:
- transport safety;
- different treatment of passenger transport, freight traffic and long distance and regional transport;
- system priorities and system integration;
- price structure of the use of infrastructure, and competition in public transport offers;
- conflicts of interest from multiple functions of public sector institutions;
- rolling stock leasing, invitations to tender, and response to resistance. - Evaluation and perspectives of the rail reform of 1996-99 with focus on:
- The rail reform as part of an overall public transport policy;
- market and companies;
- politics and the law;
- sustainability of public transport.
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