Railway Reform: Toolkit For Improving Rail Sector Performance

• Introduction

• Target Audience

• The Role of
  Transport in
  Economic
  Development

• Railway Costs and
  Cost Alternatives

• Environmental and
  Land Use Benefits

• What Is Railway
  Reform? Why Do it?

• What Can Be
  Expected from a
  Reform Effort?

• How Long Will
  Railway Reforms
  Take?

Rail Markets

Technology

Introduction

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“Any change in policy, investment plans, or structure seeking to improve performance.”

Introduction

This Railway Reform Toolkit aims to provide an easy-to-use resource on the rail industry—what it is and what it does best—and to provide an experience-based set of best practices to aid in the planning and execution of railway reforms. This toolkit is based on international experiences with railway reform under a range of railway organizational forms—state agencies, state-owned, or private enterprises. The toolkit should be particularly useful to those thinking about transitions from one organizational form to another and for those seeking to improve railway per-formance through investment, reorganization, or changes in government policy.

This section explains the fundamental building blocks of the railway and how these are organized to serve the transport market. Railway markets are discussed first followed by the technologies that railways use to serve these markets.

Rail transport markets can be divided into two major segments—passenger and freight. The infrastructure for each segment is similar or even the same, but the type of transport, the equipment, and the details of the infrastructure are often different.

When working on rail industry reforms or investment projects, it is useful to understand railway jargon and terminology and to be familiar with the rail industry technology, technical standards, and common practices. This section covers railway basics.

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