Title: Market entry barriers in Finland's rail freight transport

Authors: Miika Makitalo

Addresses: Finnish Rail Administration, Traffic System Department, P.O. Box 185, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland

Abstract: The domestic rail freight transport market has been open to competition from 1 January 2007 in Finland and in the most of Europe. However, transport markets are changing slowly. Market entry barriers play an important role in the market entry decisions and competition intensity within the industry. This paper illustrates that the biggest market entry barriers in Finland|s rail transport market are rolling stock acquisition, accessing to the services, administrative factors and recruiting skilled personnel. In addition, there are minor obstacles to the entry, such as inadequate rail capacity, a long time-to-market and possible actions of the incumbent.

Keywords: rail transport; freight transport; market entry; entry barriers; competition; rail freight; Finland; rolling stock acquisition; service access; administration; skilled personnel; rail capacity; time-to-market.

DOI: 10.1504/WRITR.2010.031587

World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research, 2010 Vol.3 No.1/2, pp.181 - 195

Published online: 12 Feb 2010 *

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