Publicly-owned operators can also challenge incumbents. New cases of open-access passenger rail competition in Poland

• Published in: Journal of rail transport planning & management 2019-12, Vol.12, p.100150, Article 100150
• Main Authors: Król, Marcin, Taczanowski, Jakub, Jarecki, Stefan, Kołoś, Arkadiusz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asymmetric regulation; Long-distance passenger services; On-track competition; Open-access competition; Public services; Railways
• ISSN: 2210-9706; 2210-9714
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jrtpm.2019.100150

Open-access passenger rail competition in Europe has mostly resulted from activities of the ‘new’, ‘agile’, ‘private’ entrants to the market. However, the existing operators can themselves take advantage of market opening opportunities. In this paper we identify and analyse eleven new minor current examples of long-distance open-access competition in Poland. Compared to the previously described short-lived (2009–2015) experience of an extensive and fierce market rivalry in the country (the Interregio case), the profile of these entries is very low and incumbent's reactions very moderate. We show that the limited scale of post-Interregio competition may partly result from regulatory routine. One interesting feature of the researched evidence is that almost all entries to the long-distance commercial market in Poland (including the Interregio case) were made from another market segment (regional public services). Interestingly, by publicly-owned operators. The relatively high number of such entries shows that expansion towards new markets can be a possible line of growth also for publicly-owned railway businesses. Our discussion includes some implications for pro-competitive regulation. •Open-access passenger rail competition in Europe has mostly resulted from activities of the ‘new’, ‘private’ operators.•However, the ‘old’, publicly-owned operators are not necessarily bound to play their old boring roles of incumbents.•We identify and analyse eleven new examples of long-distance open-access competition in Poland.•Almost all market entries were made from another market segment (regional PSOs) – interestingly, by publicly-owned operators.•Expansion towards new markets is a line of growth that is accessible also to publicly-owned railway businesses.