Management Systems of Railway Industry of Major Countries

Transportation management systems are ever evolving with the development of economy, society and transportation in various countries. In general, railway management systems of major countries exhibit the four characteristics as follows:

With the increasing economic and social coordination and continuous development in all fields of transportation, decentralized management of transportation modes becomes more and more inadaptable. In order to optimize the allocation of transportation resources at the national level, reduce the cost of external logistics, and promote the organic linkage and coordinated development between transportation modes, the transportation industry of all countries has gradually moved from decentralized management to comprehensive management that covers all transportation modes, namely adopts the large department management mode and makes continued adjustment and improvement. At present, there are three main types of railway management departments in other countries:

Comprehensive transportation management department. Countries such as the United States and Russia set up one department responsible for the comprehensive management of all transportation modes including roads, railways, air transportation, and water transportation.

Comprehensive economic management department. On the basis of coordinated management over the transportation industry, some countries are trying to go further. Against the background that the whole society attaches more and more importance to sustainable development, in consideration of the close relationship between transportation and other fields such as environmental protection, energy use, regional development, and housing construction, governments integrate administrative departments on a bigger scale, set up the more extensive large department system, so as to formulate policies and plans on a unified platform and better balance and promote the coordinated development of transportation modes, the economy and the society. Countries such as Japan, Germany, France, Kazakhstan, and Laos set up comprehensive economic management department.

Independent railway management department. India is one of the few countries whose central government still manages the transportation industry in a decentralized way. Over the past decades, some transportation management departments of India such as road transportation, water transportation, and air transportation merged and split several times, but railway transportation was always under the direct leadership and management of the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) which directly manages and operates the railways.

In order to establish an efficient comprehensive transportation management system, it is necessary to scientifically set up the management organization and functions. Most countries set up comprehensive management department in the comprehensive transportation management organization of the government, which formulates comprehensive transportation policies and coordinates the management. Since all transportation modes are highly specialized in terms of technology and management, all countries set up specialized management department in the comprehensive transportation management organization, which fulfills such functions as formulating, regulating, and approving management rules and regulations, and technical standards for all transportation modes. It has two characteristics as follows:

- Industrial management ministries/departments carry out comprehensive management over railways mainly through formulating policies and coordinating the management. Almost all countries push forward with railway reform and development on the basis of re-defined functions of the government in railway development. Namely, they separate government's function of railway management from railway enterprises' function of railway operation, reduce the direct intervention of government in railway operation, and give railway enterprises adequate operational autonomy.

- Industrial management ministries/departments carry out specialized management over railways mainly through fulfilling their regulatory function. Generally, all countries set up special railway management departments in industrial management ministries/departments, which carry out administrative management over the railway industry on behalf of the state. In addition, most countries establish railway regulatory systems suitable for their own conditions. Typical national railway regulatory systems fall into two types. One is that the governmental industrial management department under unified management acts as the railway regulatory department and countries such as Japan, Russia and India adopt such a type. The other is that railway regulatory departments are set up to take charge of different regulatory affairs with industrial management department and independent (or quasi-independent) regulatory department fulfilling the corresponding regulatory functions respectively, and countries such as Germany, France and the United States adopt such a type.

Since the 1980s, governments of various countries implemented market-oriented policies, broke the monopoly and carried out railway reforms focusing on releasing control over ownership and price and introducing the competition mechanism. As a result, the function of enterprises has been converted to being adapted to the market and improving efficiency to the maximum extent. Accompanying the opening up of market, many countries have seen a diversified market-oriented competition pattern with many branches and subsidiaries under one enterprise group or many railway-related enterprises coexisting in the market to carry out business activities.