Economies of Scale and Economies of Scope of Railway Corporation - A Study on Taiwan Railway Administration(TRA)

[[abstract]]過去台鐵為台灣主要城際運輸工具，但近幾十年面臨公路、航空開放競爭，加上本身國營體制之僵固性，以及相關人事費用甚高，使其仍處虧損狀態，而即將於民國94年通車的台灣高鐵，對於同樣為軌道經營之台鐵而言，是一個不可避免的衝擊，由於台鐵70%的收入均來自於長途客運方面，然而高鐵挾帶著速度快、旅程短之優勢，將使台鐵流失掉大量營收來源，導致已虧損多年的台鐵財務狀況更加惡化。但就台灣運輸市場而言，台鐵在路線、車站均位於各城市繁華地區及環島運輸網的特性，仍有其存在之必要。過去鐵路的研究大多只針對軌道業務進行分析，而有鑑於台鐵近年來在附屬業務的成長，因此本研究將探討台鐵兩項業務之規模經濟與範疇經濟，分析台鐵多角化經營；此外，本研究將以預測高鐵加入後台鐵投入產出的變化進一步作探討。 本研究將以Translog（超越對數）成本函數建構本研究欲探討之成本模式，其中分二階段進行探討，第一階段將以過去台鐵軌道及附屬業務之歷史成本資料進行估計分析，瞭解現階段營運是否具有規模經濟及範疇經濟等特性。在第二階段，本研究利用推估預測產出變化資料，希望了解在未來高鐵通車後，台鐵是否仍具有規模經濟及範疇經濟等特性，不同業務的營運項目是否該有所取捨，抑是集中某些特定的業務，以便逹成更有效的經營。研究結果顯示：(1)台鐵兩項業務均具有個別及整體密度與規模經濟；(2)軌道業務具整體範疇經濟，除中長途與短途不具成對範疇經濟，貨運與中長途及短途均具成對範疇經濟；附屬業務則不具範疇經濟；(3)軌道業務三項投入要素均為替代關係；附屬除物料與中間投入為互補外，其餘均屬替代關係；而兩項業之投入要素均符合需求法則；(4)軌道及附屬業務分別為技術進步及衰退；(5)軌道業短途訂價偏低，中長途應彈性訂價；(6)高鐵衝擊下，台鐵具規模經濟，但不具範疇經濟。[[abstract]]Railway Corporation possesses operational characteristics in capital intensive, labor intensive and high sunk costs. Yet external competitive environment changes, railway corporation organization evolution and internal resource readjustment are primal to corporate sustainable development and competitively increases. In past decades, Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) played an important role in intercity transportation and regional transportation. With the entry of high-speed rail into intercity transportation market, TRA seems to have the need to readjust its management operation strategy. Though TRA’s current operation performance lacks satisfaction, TRA still possesses many potential operational competitive advantages including large volume of land property, specialized railway human resources and abundant fixed cash income. Therefore, this study will adopt economies of scale and economies of scope theories to analyze TRA’s input and output efficiencies through Translog cost function. Thought previous railway cost analysis focus mostly on already available historical data, this study would like to include forecasts on TRA’s operational input and output evolutions after the entry of high-speed rail. This study aims at analyzing TRA’s possible market positioning and most suitable resource distribution after the high-speed rail era. The study finds：Firstly, both of TRA’s operation have specific and integer economies of density and economies of scale. Second, the track’s operation has integer economies of scope, except middle and long distance passenger transport don’t have pair economies of scope, Both of freight transport and middle and long distance passenger transport and freight transport and short distance passenger transport have pair economies of scope. The subsidiary operation don’t have economies of scope. Third, all input factors of track operation are substitutes. The material and middle-input are complementary in subsidiary operation, others are substitute. The input factors of two items of business accord with the demand rule. Fourth, the track operation is technological progress, the subsidiary operation declines for technology. Fifth, the short distance passenger transport fixed price of the track business is on the low side, the middle and long distance passenger transport should fix the price flexibly. Finally, under the impact of high-speed railway, TRA has economies of scale but don’t have economies of scope