A model for pricing freight rail transport access costs: economic and environmental perspectives

TL;DR

This paper develops an externality-aware, dynamic pricing framework for railway track access charges in deregulated markets, coupling a mesoscopic freight-flow model with a logit-based modal split and a discrete-event simulator. The approach yields a multi-objective optimization that balances access-revenue maximization with social costs from road traffic and emissions, demonstrated on the Mediterranean RFC6 corridor. Key contributions include integrating modal competition into pricing, harmonizing capacity allocation with interdependent train paths, and providing an open, simulation-based tool for policy analysis. The results show that externality-sensitive pricing can drive meaningful modal shifts toward rail while maintaining financial viability for infrastructure managers, informing EU transport and sustainability objectives. The study also highlights computational challenges and suggests avenues for future refinement toward microscopic modeling and broader multimodal integration.

Abstract

In deregulated railway markets, efficient management of infrastructure charges is essential for sustaining railway systems. This study sets out a method for infrastructure managers to price access to railway infrastructure, focusing on freight transport in deregulated market contexts. The proposed methodology integrates negative externalities directly into the pricing structure in a novel way, balancing economic and environmental objectives. it develops a dynamic freight flow model to represent the railway system, using a logit model to capture the modal split between rail and road modes based on cost, thereby reflecting demand elasticity. The model is temporally discretized, resulting in a mesoscopic, discrete-event simulation framework, integrated into an optimization model that determines train path charges based on real-time capacity and demand. This approach aims both to maximize revenue for the infrastructure manager and to reduce the negative externalities of road transport. The methodology is demonstrated through a case study on the Mediterranean Rail Freight Corridor, showcasing the scale of access charges derived from the model. Results indicate that reducing track-access charges can yield substantial societal benefits by shifting freight demand to rail. This research provides a valuable framework for transport policy, suggesting that externality-sensitive infrastructure charges can promote more efficient and sustainable use of railway infrastructure.

Figures (9)

• Figure 1: Representation of an arc $a$ at time instant $t$
• Figure 2: Representation of the railway network in the simulation model
• Figure 3: The Mediterranean Rail Freight Corridor (RFC6)
• Figure 4: Desegregation of freight demand by nodes
• Figure 5: Objective function for the proportional approach