University of Leeds PhD research project with Network Rail

‘Optimising Britain’s railways - economic perspectives’

Applications are invited for an industry-linked PhD scholarship which will research topical economic challenges at the heart of Britain’s railway system. The successful candidate will have a unique opportunity to work directly with Network Railand will receive an enhanced funding package.

Finding the right economic model (ownership; market structure; regulatory institutions; state involvement) for financing and operating railway infrastructure and operations has long been a challenge the world over. European legislation in recent years has sought to reform Europe’s railways through increasing competition which has also been supported to a greater or lesser degree by separating the natural monopoly part of the railways (infrastructure) from the contestable part (operations).

Britain took the most rapid and radical approach to rail reform, separating the former state monopoly into over a 100 companies, combined with complete privatisation and the introduction of competition in several parts of the value chain. These reforms led to some successes, but also numerous problems, most notably that costs rose sharply rather than falling as anticipated. As a result, the 2011 Sir Roy McNulty value for money study argued that Britain’s railways needed to become more efficient. More widely government policy emphasises the “4C” objectives around cost, capacity, carbon and customer. In other words, policy makers have the vision of a bigger, better more carbon friendly railway, delivered at lower cost and in turn lower public subsidy.

Against the above policy background this PhD will focus on how to optimise railway operations from an economic perspective. Within this, there is potential to research one or more of the following questions:

• Economic costs and quality: how much does it cost to improve quality (for example punctuality) and how much are incremental improvements in quality worth to users? What is the optimal balance between cost and quality?
• Economic costs and capacity: what are the costs and benefits of expanding capacity as compared to seeking pricing mechanisms to ration scarce capacity?
• Economic costs and industry structure. How do alternative market, regulatory and ownership solutions impact on railway cost and performance delivery
• Economic costs and carbon: what are the embedded and ongoing carbon implications of alternative rail delivery approaches? How can carbon performance be better incentivised?
• Economic costs and climate change: how does climate change impact on costs and performance and what is the optimal model to address the challenges posed by climate change?

The successful applicant will have the opportunity to work with leading academic researchers at the Institute for Transport Studies, one of the world’s leading centres for transport and railway economics (www.its.leeds.ac.uk). The scholarshipinvolves working closely with Network Rail, and the student will be expected to spend at least three months working at the company’s premises (with all travel and subsistence costs funded by the company during that time), and a representative from Network Rail will play an active role as an external supervisor. It thus offers an excellent opportunity to develop leading edge and high impact research, with strong opportunities for a future research career or career within the industry.

The successful applicant will be required to have a relevant Masters qualification with sufficient quantitative training to enable them to take up the scholarship.

For a student eligible to pay fees at the UK/EU rate this scholarship includes the payment of all tuition fees. For UK-rated students (and other EU students who meet strict UK residence requirements) there will also be the provision of living expenses of £16,590p.a. (tax free).  An additional training fund will support conference attendance and travel costs (and all travel and subsistence costs will also be met during the placement).For further details of EPSRC Industrial Case Awards please see:www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/students/coll/icase/Pages/intro.aspx

How to apply

Applicants must first apply for an academic place on the Institute for Transport Studies PhD programme via www.its.leeds.ac.uk/courses/phd/apply. Under ‘Research Proposal’ please enter, ‘EPSRC iCASEscholarship: On optimising railway operations from an economic perspective’. 

Once applicants have applied for the academic PhD place they will be provided with a University of Leeds ‘Banner ID’ number.  They should then download and complete the scholarship application form, which will ask for this number. Completed scholarship applications should be sent to: EPSRC iCASE NR Scholarship, Institute for Transport Studies, University Road, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.Emailed submissions and other enquiries are welcomed to phd@its.leeds.ac.uk

Deadline for application: midnight GMT on 15th February 2013.  

Candidates are encouraged to make informal enquiries regarding the project, in advance of application,to Dr Andrew Smith, Project Supervisor, email: A.S.J.Smith@its.leeds.ac.uk