Intercity Rail Services: Evaluating Pricing Options

Abstract

This 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 in 1990 of the demand for sleeper, motorail and dining services between Sydney, Northern N.S.W and Brisbane, a 12 to 14 hour trip, just after a decision by the NSW government to temporarily suspend sleeper and motorail services and introduce XPT seating service only, pending an inquiry into the demand for such loss-making services under alternative price and service levels. A matrix of direct and cross fare elasticites within the rail mode and between rail and competing modes are obtained for concession and non-concession travellers. The empirical evidence extends our knowledge of the sensitivity of the long distance passenger market to a range or rails fares, distinguishing between classes of fares and levels of service.