The Transformation of American Rail Freight Transportation Market Structure and Its Implications

미국 철도화물운송시장의 구조변화와 시사점

After the establishment of 'Staggers' Rail Legislation' in 1980, which established an atmosphere of free competition in rail freight transportation market, freight railway in America became larger and the proportion of freight railway in the market increased. In 2008, it took up 43% of the transportation market based on tonne/mile unit and the productivity of freight rail increased. On the other hand, in the case of Korea, the competing atmosphere is being set up under the influences of the renovation of the rail transportation industry in 2004. However, to make the rail transportation market more active and become more advanced, a lot of efforts are required to build a stronger foundation of free competition atmosphere. In this paper, we have deducted the political implications on the establishment of strengthened competition in Korean rail transportation industry from reviewing what kind of changes the rail transportation market in America went through and how it was developed. In this case, we have focused on the changes in industrial trend towards the restriction policy. Also influences of the deregulation policy after 1980 on the enhanced market efficiency were reviews.