Personenverkehr

|Introduction

|Legal Framework: Public Service Agreements

|Statistics

|Consultation Document

|Studies

Introduction

Rail is an important mode for passenger transport. Commuter traffic by rail for example is essential to keep cities accessible, however statistics show that the relative share of rail transport ('modal share') has declined considerably over the last 30 years. In 1970, rail accounted for 10,1% of all the passengerkilometers, whilst this figure dropped to 6,1% in 1999. In absolute terms, there was a modest increase of 35% from 217 billion passengerkilometers (pkm) in 1970 to 292 billion pkm in 1999, but the increase of passenger transport by car was significantly higher: from 1.588 billion pkm in 1970 to 3.784 billion pkm in 1999, which represents an increase of almost 140%. The modal share of the car rose from 74% in 1970 to 79% in 1999. Predictions on transport volumes in 2010 foresee a further increase of passenger transport by rail with 12% from 292 billion pkm to 327 billion pkm. However, if the rail mode maintains its current modal share, rail should increase its transport volume by almost 25% to 364 billion pkm! These pages will give a short overview of the EU regulatory framework put into place to facilitate passenger transport by rail.