  Risk, including economic risk, is increasingly a concern for public policy
and management. The possibility of dealing effectively with risk is hampered,
however, by lack of a sound empirical basis for risk assessment and management.
The paper demonstrates the general point for cost and demand risks in urban
rail projects. The paper presents empirical evidence that allow valid economic
risk assessment and management of urban rail projects, including benchmarking
of individual or groups of projects. Benchmarking of the Copenhagen Metro is
presented as a case in point. The approach developed is proposed as a model for
other types of policies and projects in order to improve economic and financial
risk assessment and management in policy and planning.
