Do I really like to shift to rail? Influence of rail modernisation on passenger preferences

Authors

Simona Surmařová
Michaela Neumannová
Vilém Pařil
Martin Vrána
Jakub Chmelík

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2025

Subject Area

place - europe, mode - rail, ridership - behaviour, ridership - commuting, ridership - growth, planning - service quality, planning - surveys, operations - frequency

Keywords

Rail, travel behaviour

Abstract

The emphasis on environmentally friendly solutions is steadily increasing in the transport sector. The topic of this article is a discussion of the long-term European initiative shift to rail. This initiative is confronted with historical facts, using the rail connection between Prague and Pilsen in Czechia. Numerous modernisation activities have been carried out on this line and have led to a qualitative change in transport, albeit on a conventional railway line and not high-speed rail (HSR). The paper evaluates whether a significant rail infrastructure upgrade leads to a change in transport and residential behaviour. The evaluation relies on identifying relevant upgrade projects and assessing the costs of upgrading this conventional railway. According to the results showing a significant increase in ridership, passengers consider changes, frequency, and travel time to be the crucial factors of the fundamental change in service quality caused by the modernisation of the line. These changes are confirmed and emphasised by 29 in-depth interviews with new or more frequent rail passengers using the train connection between Prague and Pilsen, identifying individual preferences and motives for changing travel behaviour. The results show that an upgrade of a conventional rail line (comparable in cost to the construction of HSR in Spain) lead to significant savings in travel time of 17 % and motivated operators to increase frequency by almost 50 %, increasing ridership to more than double. Passengers' interviews revealed more topics, such as services, comfort, and the difficult parking situation in Prague possible determinants for relocation and daily commuting.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Research in Transportation Business & Management Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22105395

Recommended Citation

Surmařová, S., Neumannová, M., Pařil, V., Vrána, M., & Chmelík, J. (2025). Do I really like to shift to rail? Influence of rail modernisation on passenger preferences. Research in Transportation Business & Management, 59, 101284.