Development of rail freight in Europe: What regulation can and cannot do: Italy Case Study

This paper describes the main trends of the Italian rail freight system, in terms of traffic data and market shares. It provides an in-depth analysis of the situation at national level, taking into consideration the liberalisation process that affected the European railway freight market from 2001 onwards. This paper also presents a selection of ‘good practices’ from the Italian market supply. The aim is to outline the key factors for competing in a rail market still affected by the incumbent’s dominant role and to examine the extent of the impact of this dominance.