01365430

Component

A key issue in the American debate about investment in high speed rail is the possible impact on airports, and specifically the diversion of significant numbers of air passengers away from congested airports. This paper examines the scale of markets for both inter-city rail as a feeder to airports, and for inter-city rail as a source of diversion from air to rail. In the United States, the authors did not find a significant role for inter-city rail feeding airports, with airports in Newark and Baltimore having mode shares of less than one percent. In Europe over 23 million trips to airports by long distance rail are documented. In the Northeast Corridor of the United States, over a million rail passengers might have used air if the travel time improvements in rail had not been made. In Europe, an estimated 7 million trips in this category can be documented. The available European data supports the rule of thumb that rail terminal to terminal travel times of under 3½ hours are associated with rail capturing more than 50% of the air plus rail market for travelers with both origin and destination in the subject corridor.

01362476

12-3925

English

12p

2012

Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Air travel; Airport access; Competition; High speed rail; Intercity transportation; Market assessment; Modal shift; Multimodal transportation; Railroad travel

Europe; United States

Aviation; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2012 Paper #12-3925

TRIS, TRB

Feb 8 2012 5:20PM