Exploitable results Strategic organization and regulation in transport; SORT-IT The overall objectives were respectively: - to develop policy measures addressing the organization of the European transport system in order to improve the efficiency of the transport sector and thus enhance the implementation of the Common Transport Policy; and- to design measures to promote inter operability and inter connection, economic efficiency and spatial co-ordination of pan European transport systems. - to analyze the possibilities and conditions for better use of existing system capacities which are embodied in specific modes and networks across the EEA and Switzerland. The SORT-IT consortium focused mainly on strategic organization, whilst MINIMISE focused mainly on interoperability and capacity management. Both consortia concentrated on the impact of these processes on economic efficiency. SORT-IT's broad methodology was based on an empirical, inductive scientific approach. The SORT-IT project carried out over 150 interviews with government departments and major transport companies, whilst the MINIMISE project carried out over 50 interviews, resulting in over 200 interviews in total. The interviews and associated literature review collected data on: type of regulation and organization; type of ownership; sources of market failure; sources of regulatory failure; barriers to interoperability; and barriers to interconnection. Analysis of the data collected was performed both at the member state and the transport sector levels. A series of statistical models was also developed using documentary data sources collected as part of the interview and literature review stages. These models included: cost and productivity models; competition simulation models; interoperability models; and demand models. The economic efficiency of different transport sectors was assessed using combinations of these models. In the SORT-IT/MINIMISE Joint Final Report some 50 detailed recommendations can be summarized with respect to ten headings. Five of these mainly involve system organization and five refer to interoperability, although the recommendations are inter-related. With respect to system organization, the recommendations are: -. Policies of commercialization and privatization continue to be pursued, particularly in air, rail and express coach operations. - Competition should be promoted in most transport markets, particularly through extending cabotage and promoting service deregulation in inland waterways, rail and express coach operations. Competition should also be promoted in input markets, including vehicle leasing, labour and ancillary markets such as baggage handling. - With respect to urban and regional transport, tendering/franchising should be promoted rather than head-on competition. - With respect to rail, horizontal and vertical separation should be considered, along with network re-configuration. - Entry barriers need to be reduced with respect to congested air, sea and rail infrastructure (including terminals), possibly through the use of auctioning systems. Conversely, entry requirements (vehicle age limits for example) may need to be tightened in the road freight and waterborne freight industries. -It has been possible to quantify some of the policy measures proposed. For example, it is estimated that further privatization in the air sector would lead to cost saving benefits of around 0.9 bn per annum, whilst increased competition would lead to benefits of around 2 bn per annum. For rail it was estimated that further corporatisation/privatization could lead to benefits of 10 bn per annum, whilst coach deregulation might yield benefits of around 1.5 bn per annum. The franchising of urban and regional transport was estimated to lead to benefits of 6.5 bn per annum. With respect to interoperability, it was estimated that improvements in rail freight, including enhanced border crossing capacity between the EU and CEEC could yield benefits of 1.4 bn per annum. For road freight, a package including improved border crossing capacity between the EU and CEEC, increased usage of telematics and harmonization of vehicle dimensions was estimated to lead to benefits of 4.5 bn per annum. For rail passenger transport, the introduction of multi system High Speed Trains was estimated to produce benefits of 1.3 bn per annum. For urban and regional transport, a number of measures including park and ride, low floor vehicles and interoperable light and heavy rail systems (as in Karlruhe) were believed to lead to benefits of 5.4 bn per annum. Overall, it was estimated that organizational reforms of public transport could lead to benefits of around 21 bn per annum, whilst the removal of key barriers to interoperability may have benefits of around 13 bn per annum. However, it was also found that the internalisation of externalities in passenger transport through infrastructure charges may have benefits of 23 bn per annum. It was therefore concluded that within SORT-IT and MINIMISE's terms of reference the policy priority should be on continued organizational reform, followed by a focus on increasing interoperability, interconnection and intermodality. However, the internalization of externalities may be an even greater policy priority. Searching for OpenAIRE data... 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