Method for Assessing Rail Transport Competitiveness in Poland and the United Kingdom

Both in Poland and the United Kingdom, as well as worldwide, railways have to compete with other modes of transport, and the rail industry seeks possibilities of achieving a competitive advantage over them. Thus, there is a need for methods for assessment of rail transport competitiveness and detection of areas for improvement. This paper presents a method developed for the Polish regional transport market and verified according to the requirements of the British market. A numerical competitiveness evaluation, called Rail Transport Competitiveness Index, considers four criteria: journey duration, ticket price, service frequency and number of changes. Surveys in Poland and the United Kingdom have been carried out in order to assign relevant weights of importance to each criterion. The method has been applied on 18 routes in Pomerania Province, to create a map of rail transport competitiveness in the region. After necessary modifications, considering dynamic fares, it has been used for Milton Keynes–London route. Its universal nature makes it useful also for other countries, possibly after minor modifications.