Support study for DG COMP for the revision of the Railway Guidelines

Lear, together with E.CA Economics, Sheppard Mullin and University of East Anglia, carried out a study on behalf of the European Commission to assist in the revision the Community guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings. The objective of the revision is to ensure that the guidelines are apt to promote the full liberalization of the rail sector, and ultimately to favour a modal shift from road to less polluting transport modes such as rail and inland waterways, while also ensuring a level-playing field in the internal market. The study addresses certain study questions that the Commission wishes to investigate to support its revision of the guidelines, providing factual and analytical evidence that may be useful in the revision process. Lear was mainly responsible for addressing study questions regarding the state of rolling stock and of the rail infrastructure in the EU. To carry out the assigned tasks, Lear consultants performed a thorough review of the existing literature, collected information from relevant stakeholders through written questionnaires and several targeted interviews and performed original empirical analyses.