Operation and maintenance of freight transport infrastructure
Sub-study 2: Cost structures and levels

This sub-study is part of an Interdepartmental Policy Study (IPS) on freight transport user charges, the main aim of which is to assess how the operation and maintenance (O&M) costs of government-operated transport infrastructure can best be passed on to shippers using that infrastructure. The study covers road and rail transport and inland shipping. In this second sub-study the structure and level of the O&M costs of infrastructure use are quantitatively analysed and costs allocated to road, railway and waterway users within the framework defined in the first sub-study. In doing so, three policy variants were considered:

1. The zero scenario, providing a review of current infrastructure charges and a description of current policy in this area.
2. A variant in which only user-variable costs are allocated to users.
3. As variant 2, but with additional allocation of fixed costs (i.e. full allocation of all O&M costs to users).