The opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in Latin America

Most railways in Latin America were built by private firms, often foreign owned. Over time, owing to a combination of nationalizations and competition from road transport, virtually all railways passed into government hands; the railroad industry became more and more of a white elephant for the Gove...

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Formato:	Texto
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	ECLAC 2014
Materias:	FERROCARRILES INFRAESTRUCTURA FISICA PRIVATIZACION TRANSPORTE FERROVIARIO RAILWAYS PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PRIVATIZATION RAILWAY TRANSPORT
Acceso en línea:	http://hdl.handle.net/11362/36318
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id	oai-11362-36318
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spelling	oai-11362-363182020-11-19T01:58:04Z The opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in Latin America FERROCARRILES INFRAESTRUCTURA FISICA PRIVATIZACION TRANSPORTE FERROVIARIO RAILWAYS PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PRIVATIZATION RAILWAY TRANSPORT Most railways in Latin America were built by private firms, often foreign owned. Over time, owing to a combination of nationalizations and competition from road transport, virtually all railways passed into government hands; the railroad industry became more and more of a white elephant for the Government because of the ever-increasing subsidies it swallowed up, its dwindling role in national economies, and a conviction that Governments should not be involved in productive activities. Consequently, the late 1980s saw the start of a trend towards denationalization of railways, with the latter being turned over to private, often foreign, interests. In this way, the railway industry in Latin America has come full circle in the space of 150 years. So far, there has not been any assessment of the recent privatization of railways in Latin America. However, the conclusion would probably be that: (i) privatization has on the whole been successful, and (ii) the results achieved would have been more positive still, had some things been done slightly differently. One problem is that the bidding process has failed to take into account the positive externalities associated with railways, such as the contribution they make to reducing road maintenance costs and environmental damage caused by road transport. Another unresolved issue is whether to put the entire railway system up for tender, or to invite separate bids for infrastructure and services. Economies of scale operate in the railway industry, favouring the existence of a number of rail companies. In the past, the railway companies of neighbouring countries such as Argentina and Paraguay, and Bolivia and Chile, enjoyed ties at director level, but these came to an end with the nationalization of railways. Now that the era of State involvement is itself drawing to a close, we can expect to see the formation of integrated railway systems, one of which might extend from Quijarro, on the border between Bolivia and Brazil, to Puerto Montt in the south of Chile. 2014-03-20T01:31:40Z 2014-03-20T01:31:40Z 1997-06 Texto Documento Completo http://hdl.handle.net/11362/36318 en FAL Bulletin 134 application/pdf AMERICA LATINA LATIN AMERICA ECLAC
institution	Cepal
collection	Cepal
language	English
topic	FERROCARRILES INFRAESTRUCTURA FISICA PRIVATIZACION TRANSPORTE FERROVIARIO RAILWAYS PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PRIVATIZATION RAILWAY TRANSPORT
spellingShingle	FERROCARRILES INFRAESTRUCTURA FISICA PRIVATIZACION TRANSPORTE FERROVIARIO RAILWAYS PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PRIVATIZATION RAILWAY TRANSPORT The opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in Latin America
description	Most railways in Latin America were built by private firms, often foreign owned. Over time, owing to a combination of nationalizations and competition from road transport, virtually all railways passed into government hands; the railroad industry became more and more of a white elephant for the Government because of the ever-increasing subsidies it swallowed up, its dwindling role in national economies, and a conviction that Governments should not be involved in productive activities. Consequently, the late 1980s saw the start of a trend towards denationalization of railways, with the latter being turned over to private, often foreign, interests. In this way, the railway industry in Latin America has come full circle in the space of 150 years. So far, there has not been any assessment of the recent privatization of railways in Latin America. However, the conclusion would probably be that: (i) privatization has on the whole been successful, and (ii) the results achieved would have been more positive still, had some things been done slightly differently. One problem is that the bidding process has failed to take into account the positive externalities associated with railways, such as the contribution they make to reducing road maintenance costs and environmental damage caused by road transport. Another unresolved issue is whether to put the entire railway system up for tender, or to invite separate bids for infrastructure and services. Economies of scale operate in the railway industry, favouring the existence of a number of rail companies. In the past, the railway companies of neighbouring countries such as Argentina and Paraguay, and Bolivia and Chile, enjoyed ties at director level, but these came to an end with the nationalization of railways. Now that the era of State involvement is itself drawing to a close, we can expect to see the formation of integrated railway systems, one of which might extend from Quijarro, on the border between Bolivia and Brazil, to Puerto Montt in the south of Chile.
format	Texto
title	The opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in Latin America
title_short	The opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in Latin America
title_full	The opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in Latin America
title_fullStr	The opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in Latin America
title_full_unstemmed	The opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in Latin America
title_sort	opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in latin america
publisher	ECLAC
publishDate	2014
url	http://hdl.handle.net/11362/36318
_version_	1718436425780690944

The opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in Latin America

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