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, was appointed by the European Commission to carry out a study to assist in the revision the Community guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings. The study addresses four areas: the status of rail infrastructure; accessibility and costs pertaining to rolling stock; profitability and demand elasticity of rail freight services; and effectiveness of State support measures.
The study found that the inadequacy of intermodal terminals, congested rail networks, and costliness of private sidings restrict the capacity of European rail infrastructure; access to rolling stock is characterised by high costs and a lack of technical standardisation across Member States; the rail freight sectors in many countries are loss-making, with only some segments being profitable. The Lear team responsible for the study comprised Gabriele Dente, Salvatore Nava and Elena Salomone.
The full study is available here.