Structural economics of the U.S. rail freight industry: Concepts, evidence, and merger policy implications

Abstract The structure of the U.S. rail freight industry has dramatically changed in the past decade due to bankruptcies, mergers and deregulation. Historically, dozens of major railroads covered limited geographic areas, so that most shipments required connections of two or more carriers. There was considerable evidence that most carriers were operating at less than efficient scale. This article presents the basic concepts relating firm size to production costs and reviews empirical studies attempting to measure those relationships. We then review the implications of this evidence for future mergers, merger policy and the research agenda.