The opening of railroad infrastructure to new transport operators in Europe has made it necessary to develop a pricing system for its use. The European Union (EU) has proposed guidelines for establishing a similar pricing system for all EU members. Nonetheless, pricing systems continue to differ substantially from one country to another. These differences reduce continuity between networks and distort the competitive conditions between countries and negatively affect domestic trade. This paper analyzes the pricing systems of eight European countries and presents several proposals for harmonizing them.
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