Odd Military Lines - A Comparative Analysis of the Czech Railway Network's Efficiency.
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | 7th Conference on the History of Transport, Traffic, and Mobility - Energy and Innovation |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://www.transporteconomics.eu |
| Field | Economy |
| Keywords | network effect; economic history; path dependence; railways history |
| Description | Liberalisation, unbundling and privatisation are basic principles of contemporary reforms of railway industry in the European Union. The hypothesis to be examined in this paper is an empirical evidence of path dependency of the Czech railway network, i.e. the fact, that some lines of the Czech network were established due to others than economic reasons and that is why these lines are odd and inefficient nowadays. The study is of relevance because the Czech Republic carries out reforms of railways nowadays, attempting to improve efficiency and competitiveness of railway transport. Economic efficiency of railway industry, in principle, does not depend on direct costs only (i.e. on operation costs), but on indirect costs of network as well. Previous studies have suggested that efficiency of railway operations is connected with the shape of a railway network by means of economies of scale, density of transport, and network effect. Many studies report that density of transport is the major factor to make profit from railway operations, while other factors (economies of scale, network effect) are closely connected or simply based on density of transport. That means the network, its technical standards and shape, is a limit factor of railway industry's efficiency and competitiveness. |
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