From south of South America to Northern Europe, national railway systems are being restructured. This can include some degree of privatisation. Restructuring can involve the separation of the administration of infrastructure from train operation. This model has been implemented in Columbia and Sweden and provides the basis for restructuring in Great Britain. Problems outlined with this approach are related to: (1) that there is no satisfactory mechanism to correctly charge road users for their marginal social costs at the level of each particular movement; (2) in some countries the track authority may not be given subsidies, which implies it must cover not just variable but also fixed track costs from users. These problems are discussed and possible solutions presented.
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