Application of game theory to railway decision making

Over the last few decades various forms of railway privatization have taken place in many different countries. As a result, it is now common for several parties to be involved in the ownership, operation and maintenance of railway system assets. The decisions made by each impact on all others. Game theory (GT) provides the framework to obtain the optimal decisions taking into account the various interactions. This paper gives a brief introduction to GT and its application to railway decision-making.