Abstract
When Japanese National Railways was privatized and separated in 1987, the government established a new freight train operation scheme where rail tracks were owned by six JR Passenger companies, and JR-Freight was allowed access to the JR Passenger company's tracks by paying an access charge under the avoidable cost rule, regulated by the national government. The aim of this scheme was to reduce the track costs for JR-Freight. We found that rail freight infrastructure investment had not been high enough because it was only conducted by JR-Freight, and it only included investment in a few facilities owned by JR-Freight but excluded investment in the rail tracks owned by the JR passenger companies. Additionally, the track access charges, calculated by the avoidable cost rule, could not compensate for the track maintenance costs and would induce an undersupply of rail tracks for rail freight traffic. In conclusion, the track access charges paid from JR-Freight to the JR Passenger companies were too low, causing difficulties in the promotion of a modal shift to rail freight.
Published Version
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