European railway transportation is not as efficient as it could be. Several factors contribute
to this absence of efficiency, including a lack of private investment and exclusively public
railway administrators and enterprises. Public-private partnerships can yield higher
efficiency in railway transport. Within the high-speed railway sector there are a few
implemented infrastructures through public-private partnerships and, in many of them, the
result has not been the expected one. Hence, the purpose of this research is to develop a list
of recommendations and good practices that allow governments, private investors, and
railway stakeholders to take better and more efficient decisions on the implementation of
new high-speed rail lines. Consequently, this research has analysed the Portuguese highspeed
rail network called Rede Ferroviária de Alta Velocidade (RAVE) designed through
public-private partnership. The research methodology is based on exploratory case study and
on the identification of critical success factors. This article has made it possible to develop
the following list of recommendations and good practices, cross-border cooperation for
international sections, unique contracts for substructure and superstructure and an
independent contract for signalling and communication systems.
