The methods upon which the track access charging systems rely consist in stimulating the appropriate use of the infrastructure from the point of view of operating priorities, economic efficiency and covering operating costs, as well as the maintenance and development of the network. While the short run marginal costs generate the efficient exploitation of the network, the long-run marginal costs stimulate the efficient development of the network.
In economic terms, long-run marginal costs (LRMC) measure the costs of increasing output by one unit when all inputs can be varied. This would include capital stock and other items that cannot be varied on the short run. In the context of railways, long-run marginal costs would then be the costs associated with one additional single train service where the capa-city of the network can be changed (either increased or decreased).
“Track access charges should be set according to the long run marginal costs (LRMC), as charges based on short-run marginal costs should determine the efficient use of the network, while long-run marginal costs would determine the efficient development of the network”, declared Torben Holvad, Economic Adviser, European Railway Agency.
The key advantages of LRMC-based access charging include more stable charges which facilitate longer stable contracts between railway undertakings and infrastructure managers. These longer stable contracts could contribute to improve the justification for other investment in assets, such as rolling stock.
In cases where there is a known need for infrastructure investments (for example, widespread capacity constraints combined with increases in demand) LRMC based charging may provide better investment incentives. Related to this, a better allocation of resources could be achieved by contributing to improved and faster alignment between demand and capacity.
Although the implementation of this charging method will contribute to the infrastructure development and balance of transport activities, there are difficulties in calculating costs and in cost recovery.
“There are two important disadvantages related to this charging method. The first refers to difficulties in practically calculating LRMC based charges. As such, these reflect the cost of capacity expansion and it is very likely that these costs would vary from place to place. Secondly, SRMC based charging an approach based on LRMC may also suffer from the issue of not ensuring full cost recovery of infrastructure related costs. Therefore, LRMC based charges may also require financial contributions from the state”, concluded Holvad.
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