Rail Infrastructure Pricing For Intercity Passenger Services In Europe: Possible Impacts On The Railways Competitive Framework

At the beginning of the 90’s, the European Union initiated a railways reform with the aim to face the decline of railway transport, as well as to increase railway competitiveness and interoperability at European scale. The First Railway Package of this reform focused on the split between infrastructure management and operation and, therefore, on the establishment of pricing systems. Due to lack of straight definition, the application of the Directives on infrastructure charges in the different European countries has given rise to a large spectrum of charging systems. It is a direct consequence of the differences in the charging philosophies (MC –marginal cost, MC+ - marginal cost with mark-ups, FC –Full Cost recovery, etc.), the charging types (single tariff, two-parts tariff) and the parameters (or variables) chosen for defining the amount of the charge in each particular case. This paper analyses the rail infrastructure charges in 23 European countries from the point of view of the parameters used for defining them. The analysis deepens the knowledge of qualitative differences between these countries’ pricing structure. Furthermore, it analyses its consequences in the total amount of the charge to be paid by passenger services running through links considered to be the best national railways relations in each one of the countries studied. Concerning the qualitative analysis, forty-six different types of variables were identified for the whole of the systems analysed. With regard to the quantitative field,calculations reveal that infrastructure charges range from 14,6 €/train-km to 0,6 €/train-km for “comparable” national links. The last part of this paper discusses the weight of those fares for the use of infrastructure for intercity rail passenger services with regard to its competitor mode. Results from an analysis of 100 national and international links allow drawing some conclusions on the possible impacts of railway infrastructure pricing on the railways competitive framework in Europe.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Rail Infrastructure Pricing For Intercity Passenger Services In Europe: Possible Impacts On The Railways Competitive Framework

At the beginning of the 90’s, the European Union initiated a railways reform with the aim to face the decline of railway transport, as well as to increase railway competitiveness and interoperability at European scale. The First Railway Package of this reform focused on the split between infrastructure management and operation and, therefore, on the establishment of pricing systems. Due to lack of straight definition, the application of the Directives on infrastructure charges in the different European countries has given rise to a large spectrum of charging systems. It is a direct consequence of the differences in the charging philosophies (MC –marginal cost, MC+ - marginal cost with mark-ups, FC –Full Cost recovery, etc.), the charging types (single tariff, two-parts tariff) and the parameters (or variables) chosen for defining the amount of the charge in each particular case. This paper analyses the rail infrastructure charges in 23 European countries from the point of view of the parameters used for defining them. The analysis deepens the knowledge of qualitative differences between these countries’ pricing structure. Furthermore, it analyses its consequences in the total amount of the charge to be paid by passenger services running through links considered to be the best national railways relations in each one of the countries studied. Concerning the qualitative analysis, forty-six different types of variables were identified for the whole of the systems analysed. With regard to the quantitative field,calculations reveal that infrastructure charges range from 14,6 €/train-km to 0,6 €/train-km for “comparable” national links. The last part of this paper discusses the weight of those fares for the use of infrastructure for intercity rail passenger services with regard to its competitor mode. Results from an analysis of 100 national and international links allow drawing some conclusions on the possible impacts of railway infrastructure pricing on the railways competitive framework in Europe.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Pre-industrial-scale combined solar photo-fenton and immobilized biomass activated-sludge biotreatment

This paper reports on upscaling of a new technology combining solar photo-Fenton and aerobic biological processes to successfully treat a saline industrial wastewater containing around 600 mg L-1 of a non-biodegradable compound (α-methylphenylglycine, MPG) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) of between 400 and 600 mg L-1. Pilot-plant tests were used in designing this demonstration hybrid solar photocatalytic-biological plant with a 4 m3 daily treatment capacity. It consists of a solar photo-Fenton reactor with 100 m2 of solar compound parabolic collectors (CPCs) and an aerobic biological treatment plant based on an immobilized-biomass activated-sludge reactor (1 m3). The catalyst concentration was Fe2+ = 20 mg L-1. The overall efficiency in the combined system was around 95% mineralization. 50% of the initial DOC was degraded in the photo-Fenton pretreatment, and 45% was removed in the aerobic biological treatment