New financing mechanisms and changing roles in the Swedish transport infrastructure system

In Sweden the Central Government (the Government) is responsible for the provision of, financing and management of the Transport Infrastructure system, covering road, railroad, aviation and maritime infrastructure. Lately new funding sources have been introduced mainly for rail and road, with more focus on user fees and congestion charges. International cooperation is successively more important for the Government in Transport Infrastructure. Further Regions and Local Governments have the resources to take on more active roles in the sector. This challenges the role of the Government and also points to possible future developments in the organization of the Transport Infrastructure sector. The use of the transaction cost approach for an analysis of an efficient future organization of the Transport Infrastructure sector is discussed. Finally, some models for possible future roles of the Government and models for the organization of provision of Transport Infrastructure are presented. These models could be seen as examples for privatization and other forms of market-openings in the Infrastructure sector in general.