Även utg. som 2012:5 i serien Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm. Working papers in transport economics, VTI, KTH, S-WoPEc, Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Railway reform in the European Union proceeds on the assumption that continued introduction of more competition by separating parts of incumbent national railway monopolies will increase welfare in the railway sector by delivering more attractive services and prices. This reform process, however, runs in different directions and in different speeds in the member states. Sweden’s Parliament recently removed the last remaining exclusive rights of the incumbent. Entry and the possibility of on-the track competition also for rail passenger services on all parts of the network will now become feasible. These reforms place Sweden in the frontline of reformers trusting that the new market organisation will deliver the desired results. The purpose of this paper is to describe this focus on deregulation and market opening. The paper also addresses four critical issues for the success of the reforms; the allocation of infrastructure capacity, the provision of maintenance and terminal facilities, the access to rolling stock and the provision of information and ticketing to travellers. The analysis points to a number of challenges which probably will have to be tackled by legislators. The analyses of the challenges are partly similar to analyses of previous reforms in other countries.