Low-Cost Long-Distance Passenger Train Model

Abstract

The introduction of low-cost long-distance passenger trains will improve transport availability, expand the geography of routes, increase train departure frequency, resulting thus in growth of passenger turnover and carriers’ incomes. From the standpoint of national economy, the emergence of trains of that kind will contribute to better transport mobility of population, labour market balance, tourist attractiveness of the country and its regions, to increase in GDP thanks to multiplicative effect. As a result of active implementation of state support measures for development of regional aviation, construction of high-speed highways, introduction of car sharing services, in recent years there has been a significant increase in competition in the long-distance passenger transportation market. Each segment of this market requires meeting the needs and expectations of a certain type of customer, reflecting the age, education, type of activity, income, physical condition of a passenger. The competitiveness of a particular type of transportation in the modern world, is based, first, on the widespread growth in the value of time as of a significant resource of human life, and consequently in speed of movement along all the route (from door to door) since life expectancy, in addition to extensive factors (hightech healthcare, healthy nutrition, etc.) evolves at the expense of intensive factors also which certainly include the saving of time for movement. The objective of this article is to describe the business model of a low-cost long-distance railway passenger carrier, to analyse technical, technological, organizational factors that form the model using the methods of economic analysis, observation, and comparison. It is concluded that key conditions for functioning of the model of a low-cost long-distance passenger carrier comprise among others operation of modern energy-efficient rolling stock, flexibility and promptness in development of the route network, identification of the travel frequency and the composition of low-cost trains.