Kooperationen im grenzüberschreitenden europäischen Schienenpersonenfernverkehr

Despite the market liberalisation of long-distance international passenger rail transport in 2010, competition has hardly developed in that sector until today. Most of the international passenger rail services are still provided by railway alliances between established formerly state-owned railway companies of different European Member States. It is assumed that these railway alliances lead to a collective dominant position and therefore to a significant impediment to effective competition.
This study analyzes the existing railway alliances in long-distance international passenger rail transport on the basis of today´s economic and legal frameworks and answers the question of whether the existing alliances are likely to restrict competition and thus fall under the prohibition of cartels or whether they should be exempted from such prohibition due to efficiency gains.