Demand for rail travel and the effects of external factors

Abstract

This paper estimates an enhanced model for forecasting railway demand and to explain the high levels of growth in the 1990s in Great Britain. The key driver of demand is found to be GDP, but variations in car times, fuel costs, car ownership, population and a post-privatisation time trend also made significant contributions. The estimation makes use of two large data sets obtained from recorded ticket sales and from travel surveys. The estimated models are in use within the rail industry in Great Britain and have been able to successfully predict rail demand growth since 1998.