4. Conclusions
All of the services are more or less modular, implying that in most cases one
subsystem can be exchanged for another, which opens up the possibility of
using railway operators as subcontractors in these systems. As mentioned
above, the transport time is not by necessity connected to neither the number of
actors involved in the transport chain, nor to the degree of vertical integration.
This suggests that a if a transport chain including railway is organised and
managed in a suitable way, the fact that such a system requires at least two
traffic modes and most likely several different actors as well, should not
hamper this system’s performance regarding transport time and delivery time
reliability. Another opening for railways as subcontractors in express
transportation systems is that several service concepts are developed by one
actor but sold and/or produced by another.