A Tool for Railway Transport Cost Evaluation

Abstract

After a compared analysis of different cost assessment methodologies with their mathematical formulations, the paper achieves a determination of cost functions (functions linking inputs with outputs) for an articulate estimation of regional railways investment and operating costs, in relation with existing and/or planned contexts, giving some example of reference points and orders of magnitude. The same methodology is then applied to compare calculated cost with some European regional operating costs (€/train-km).