Intl. Trans. in Op. Res. 26 (2019) 5–40 DOI: 10.1111/itor.12551 INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH Efﬁciency, effectiveness, and impacts assessment in the rail transport sector: a state-of-the-art critical analysis of current research Giuseppe Catalano a , Cinzia Daraio a , Marco Diana b , Martina Gregori a and Giorgio Matteucci a a DIAG, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 00185, Italy b DIATI, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy E-mail: giuseppe.catalano@uniroma1.it [Catalano]; cinzia.daraio@uniroma1.it [Daraio]; marco.diana@polito.it [Diana]; martina.gregori@uniroma1.it [Gregori]; matteucci@dis.uniroma1.it [Matteucci] Received 10 January 2018; received in revised form 21 March 2018; accepted 24 March 2018 Abstract This paper aims at being a comprehensive reference for stakeholders, policy makers, and scholars interested in analyzing the problem of efﬁciency, effectiveness,and impacts of rail transport systems in a sound empirical way, paying speciﬁc attention to passenger transport services. The paper combines different analytical frame- works (engineering, economics, impacts), systematic review techniques, and advanced mappings. Framing economic efﬁciency studies into a transport planning perspective permits to move from efﬁciency to effec- tiveness issues. In addition, including impacts offers a critical discussion of the existing empirical studies, relating them to the main methodological approaches used. This analysis can be useful for those interested in developing new techniques for the evaluation of this sector. The critical analysis developed in this paper provides a catalog of inputs, outputs, external factors, possible impacts to account for, data, and approaches, which allows us to identify areas in which new methodological developments, new approaches, are needed to address the relevant societal challenges of the rail transport sector. Keywords: efﬁciency; effectiveness; impacts; frontier analysis; DEA; rail transport; quantitative methods 1. Introduction Railway systems are an important component of the social and economic system of many nations around the world. From a macroeconomic viewpoint, it has been estimated that the generated added value of this sector at the European level was €66 billion in 2012, which rises to €142 billion considering indirect effects, thus representing 1.1% of the European Union’s economy (Molemaker and Pauer, 2014). Although such ﬁgures seem not too impressive in relative terms, railways are often seen as a key component in the implementation of more effective transport policies in many countries. They can C  2018 The Authors. International Transactions in Operational Research C  2018 International Federation of Operational Research Societies Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St, Malden, MA02148, USA.