How does it work in other countries?

[JSmith]

So I suppose we can generally all agree that North America lags behind the rest of the developed world (and some of the developing world) when it comes to passenger rail, in terms of network comprehensiveness, train frequencies, etc. I am curious as to how other countries do things differently from the US and Canada. For the sake of this discussion, I'm not talking about dedicated HSR lines, but more conventional rail (up to, say, 125 mph). How does the British system, for example, compare to the US system? Is it the same in France and Germany?

For example, Amtrak and VIA are often delayed because of having to share tracks with freight trains. Do freights share the same tracks with passenger trains in Britain and Europe?

Amtrak doesn't own most of the tracks it runs on - they are owned by the freight companies, which often lack any incentive to make infrastructure improvements that would benefit Amtrak but not themselves. Who owns the British and European track infrastructure?

Amtrak is dispatched by the track owners (again, the freight companies). Who does the dispatching in Britain and Europe?

I understand that British trains are owned by multiple private companies, with National Rail acting as a coordinating association to simplify ticketing, scheduling, etc. Are most European train systems publicly-owned?

Finally, am I wrong in my understanding that VIA's "deal" is pretty much the same as Amtrak? VIA Rail is a government entity that owns and runs trains on tracks owned and controlled by freight companies?

 

[jamesontheroad]

To all intents and purposes, VIA is indeed like Amtrak, a 'Crown Corporation' with shares, but with the Canadian Government as the sole shareholder. VIA has to go cap in hand to Ottawa just as Amtrak does to Washington DC.

Here in the UK, all the track, infrastructure and stations are owned by Network Rail, a not-for-dividend public company. It succeeded Railtrack, which was created when British Rail was privatised, but which subsequently went into liquidation. Network Rail is responsible for the signalling and dispatch of passenger and freight trains, with the former generally taking priority because there are more of them and because almost all train operating companies have a delay-repay compensation scheme for trains delayed more than 30 minutes.

Passenger rolling stock is generally owned by private leasing companies nicknamed ROSCOs who lease them by the day or mile the passenger Train Operating Companies (TOCs). TOC contracts are awarded competitively for x number of years, often with clauses to allow extensions or early termination. TOCs are represented by the Association of Train Operating Comapnies (ATOC) which collectively markets them as National Rail. National Rail co-ordinates the timetables, train running info etc, but does not sell tickets. ATOC co-ordinates ticketing, but again does not sell tickets. Tickets are sold by TOCs directly, through stations, online or over the phone, and also by a handful of online or offline travel agents. ATOC also manages the National Rail Settlement Plan (those four words are printed over and over again as the background on British train tickets) which basically uses all kinds of complex formulae to work out how much of a ticket's value different train operating companies should receive when a city pair involves more than one operator or more than one possible itinerary. Most TOCs also choose to sell operator-specific Advance tickets through the same system, which limit you to a reserved train, but which generally guarantee them a greater percentage of the revenue.

Freights and passenger trains share the tracks, with the exception of our puny highspeed network (HS1) which the French built anyway Highspeed freight trains are on the cards, and they will share tracks with Eurostar, the Channel Tunnel car and truck shuttle and the domestic highspeed service between London and Kent.

The American fear of 'lightweight' DMU and EMU trains simply doesn't exist here. Signalling systems and automated train safety systems have become so advanced that the question of the weight difference between a passenger train and a freight train in the event of an accident doesn't seem to scare people off multiple units; in fact the vast majority of UK passenger trains in the UK are DMU or EMU multiples.

Phew...

PS: this Wikipedia page explains the privatisation of British Rail : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatisation_of_British_Rail

PPS: the one exception to all of the above in the UK is in Northern Ireland, where the state owned NI Railways own and operate everything (even their trains, unless I've missed something on their financing). They co-own and co-operate the cross-border Enterprise train fleet and service with their neighbour Iarnród Éireann in the Irish Republic.

 

[MikefromCrete]

The United Kingdom train plan seems complicated beyond explanation. Although I have heard that the Conservative Party designed it that way so that it would be too difficult to put back together and nationalize once the Labor Party regained power.

 

[Shanghai]

In Germany, France and the Netherlands, the passenger trains rule. I traveled by train frequently in the five years I lived in Europe but I do not recall seeing

many freight trains on the tracks. There are many more passenger trains running there as the frequency of service is very good.

 

[DET63]

In Japan, IIRC, there are several regional companies operating the passenger services, while another operates all the freight services. Finally, yet another JR company owns and maintains the tracks. But it may be more complicated than that.

 

[jis]

Indian Railways is organized under the federal Ministry of Railways, which is a federal ministry equivalent to a department of the federal government in the US. The Railway Budget is the second most important federally managed budget (after the National Budget) and is presented by the Railway Minister (current incumbent Ms. Mamata Banerjee) and approved by the national Parliament. Typically the Railway Budget is presented a few days before the National Budget and is awaited with much anticipation by all since it determines things like freight tariffs that will be charged over the next year and passenger fares that will apply over the next year, and overall has far reaching effect on the economy in the year that it covers.

The apex management organization is the Railway Board. The board is headed by a Chairman who reports to the Minister of Railways. The Railway Board has five other members in addition to the Chairman.

Indian Railways is organized into 16 Zones. Each zone, headed by a General Manager, is semi-autonomous and this creates a matrix organisation where the functional branches are under dual control viz.

* Operational Control at Zonal level

* Functional Policy & Guidance from the Railway Board

The General Managers of the zonal railways and the production units report to the board. See the Wiki entry on Indian Railways Organizational Structure for more details.