Assessing the costs of a haulage regime

The provision of third-party access to rail infrastructure in WA?s Pilbara region has been a contentious issue over the past decade. The most recent endeavour proposed by the State Government involves a haulage regime, whereby incumbents would be required to haul the wagons of third parties seeking...

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Main Author: Wills-Johnson, Nick
Format: Working Paper
Published: Centre for Research in Applied Economics, Curtin Business School 2008
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30316
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author Wills-Johnson, Nick
author_facet Wills-Johnson, Nick
author_sort Wills-Johnson, Nick
building Curtin Institutional Repository
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description The provision of third-party access to rail infrastructure in WA?s Pilbara region has been a contentious issue over the past decade. The most recent endeavour proposed by the State Government involves a haulage regime, whereby incumbents would be required to haul the wagons of third parties seeking access to the line. This paper explores the likely costs of such a regime on the host railways, by examining the impacts of voluntary haulage regimes on US Class One Railways, where they are well-established. It finds that haulage regimes are a cost effective means for US railways to reduce their haulage costs, and that they thus might play a role in the Pilbara. However, consideration of whole-of-system costs, congestion and appropriate pricing are key issues. This paper explores these issues, and proposes a simple pricing mechanism which would ensure fair, efficient haulage with only very limited regulatory involvement.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-303162017-01-30T13:18:52Z Assessing the costs of a haulage regime Wills-Johnson, Nick The provision of third-party access to rail infrastructure in WA?s Pilbara region has been a contentious issue over the past decade. The most recent endeavour proposed by the State Government involves a haulage regime, whereby incumbents would be required to haul the wagons of third parties seeking access to the line. This paper explores the likely costs of such a regime on the host railways, by examining the impacts of voluntary haulage regimes on US Class One Railways, where they are well-established. It finds that haulage regimes are a cost effective means for US railways to reduce their haulage costs, and that they thus might play a role in the Pilbara. However, consideration of whole-of-system costs, congestion and appropriate pricing are key issues. This paper explores these issues, and proposes a simple pricing mechanism which would ensure fair, efficient haulage with only very limited regulatory involvement. 2008 Working Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30316 Centre for Research in Applied Economics, Curtin Business School fulltext
spellingShingle Wills-Johnson, Nick
Assessing the costs of a haulage regime
title Assessing the costs of a haulage regime
title_full Assessing the costs of a haulage regime
title_fullStr Assessing the costs of a haulage regime
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the costs of a haulage regime
title_short Assessing the costs of a haulage regime
title_sort assessing the costs of a haulage regime
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30316