Causation and modelling of railway civil engineering costs

Abstract

The Introducers explained that Britain was preeminent in Europe in its understanding of cost causation. To ensure optimal use of its infrastructure they said it is important that British Rail (BR) accurately attributes costs between businesses where assets are used by more than one business. This requirement is particularly relevant to trainload freight (TLF) because this business uses 17 500 miles of BR's 20 300 miles but only directly owns and manages 2000. (Civil engineering costs are 28% of overall costs for TLF.) The relative lack of direct managerial control focuses attention on the ability to allocate with accuracy.