Rail network accessibility and the demand for inter-urban rail travel

This paper reviews methods that have and can be used to forecast the effect of changes in accessibility to the rail network on the demand for inter-urban rail travel and of available evidence on rail accessibility elasticities. It reveals that relatively little research has been conducted in this area and that the forecasting procedures that could be used imply large variation in accessibility elasticities, which has not been empirically justified. Fresh empirical evidence on two related matters is reported. First, the neglected area of choice set composition is examined and the extent to which rail is considered to be a realistic alternative for inter-urban journeys and the contribution that accessibility to the rail network makes to this are analysed. Second, rail trip rate models are presented that not only contain estimates of accessibility elasticities and of the effects of a range of socio-economic variables on the demand for rail travel, but also that allow tests of the accessibility elasticity variation implied by many forecasting procedures to be conducted. It is found that this elasticity variation is not empirically supported. It is concluded that there is only limited scope for increasing rail demand through improvements in rail network accessibility.