The third phase of the liberalisation of European long-distance passenger railways

More than 15 years after the first cases of open-access competition in the European long-distance passenger railways, the liberalisation process of this sector is still evolving towards an increasingly articulated and competitive configuration. Since 2020, the evolution of this process has shifted towards new forms, as demonstrated by the opening of the French and Spanish domestic markets. In this paper, a case-based analysis is carried out comparing supply and price variations from 2019 to 2024 for a large number of routes across Europe. Starting from a single broad dataset of railway fares, the study is organised in seven different cases. Each one is representative of one market and describes its peculiar features or issues also considering the specific geographic context. The analysis is then framed in the wider and long-term liberalisation process of the sector, which is here intended as made up of three different phases. An early phase has been characterised by small private newcomers trying to break into niche markets, with infrequent success. A second wave of entries followed, with the incumbents of some countries facing localised but intensive competition from a few private undertakings. The third phase, object of study in this paper, sees, for the first time, some incumbents entering foreign domestic markets as competitors. Product differentiation is, in these last cases, used by the former monopolists to face the new competitive environment. Besides this, the newcomers of the second phase, now consolidated, progressively enlarge their networks, often towards international destinations.