This report examines the form regulation should take in rail freight markets to promote efficiency in railways and the wider economy. It analyses issues of monopoly, scale economies, competition, mergers, ownership and the structure of the rail industry. Experience in North America, Australia, Japan, the European Union and countries from eastern and western Europe is reviewed. The need for regulation differs by market and, together with political constraints, this means that regulatory models can not be transferred wholesale from one continent to another. However, each region provides important lessons for reforms currently under consideration in all ECMT and OECD countries.