Impacts and incentives of differentiated rail infrastructure charges in Europe - focus on freight

One of the key objectives of rail infrastructure charges has been stated as being to promote the efficient use of the infrastructure. Much effort has been put into the derivation of charging regimes by infrastructure managers and regulators throughout Europe, and a mix of differing regimes have been put in place. However, relatively little work has been undertaken to examine the impacts and incentivisation effects that these charging regimes produce. This paper gives consideration to relevant theory in this area, what one might expect - from first principles - and then reports on a number of interviews and case studies undertaken to explore these impacts and incentives. Finally, it discusses a number of methodological issues surrounding this area of research, and proposes further lines of enquiry that might reasonably be pursued.