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.