Intercity rail services: A nested logit stated choice analysis of pricing options

There is a renewed interest in intercity and long-distance rail services in many countries, with both new high-speed rail services and improvements to conventional rail under review. The current study reports on an investigation using a stated choice experiment, of the demand for sleeper services between Sydney, Northern New South Wales (NSW) and Brisbane in Australia, a 12 to 14 hour trip, just after a decision by the NSW government to temporarily suspend sleeper services and introduce seating service only, pending an inquiry into the demand for such loss-making services under alternative price and service levels. A matrix of direct fare elasticities within the rail mode and between rail and competing modes are obtained for concession and non-concession travellers from a nested logit model. The empirical evidence extends our knowledge of the sensitivity of the long distance passenger market to a range of rails fares, distinguishing between classes of fares and levels of service.