Cost measurement in the rail transport sector: the Trento-Male' case history

This paper analyses the methodological characteristics which have governed the application of a cost measurement system to Ferrovia Trento-Malè, a medium sized, privately owned passenger railway company operating in the Trentino/Alto Adige region. The case history analysed seeks to highlight the distinctive features which a cost accounting system must have when applied to this type of company; these features basically concern the need to identify: - the aggregate intermediate costs which are not represented either by the cost centres of traditional methodology or by activity-based costing methodology processes, with the aim of understanding and governing production costs; - a conclusive type of cost calculation which allows the service to be assembled and taken apart according to the use the client makes of it, in order to make a comparison with the price they pay. The proposed methodology allows the operational connection between the company’s resources and the clients’ consumption of them when they buy transport services to be measured. This enables a check to be made of the opportunities for improvement and for cost optimisation