quantinghome
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Latest article in Railnews:
https://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2018/11/19-most-likely-causes-of-rail.html
The article continues:
However, research by the ITC shows this growth has been driven mostly by structural changes in living and working patterns:"Demand for rail has soared since the mid-1990s, and politicians in favour of privatisation have routinely claimed that breaking up British Ral and bringing in the private sector was the main reason."
https://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2018/11/19-most-likely-causes-of-rail.html
The article continues:
This ties in with my experience as a rail passenger before, during and after privatisation. I find that rail travel is no more pleasant, no quicker nor less costly an experience now than in the early 90s, yet there has been huge growth.The ITC, though, says that a greater percentage of the population is now travelling by train because of ‘major economic and spatial changes’, which have prompted a 58 per cent rise in the number of passengers travelling by train to work, or for other business purposes.
The places where people are living have changed, and there have also been ‘significant structural changes to the UK economy’ over the past 25 years.
The report – ‘Wider factors affecting the long-term growth in rail travel’ – was researched by statistics specialists Ian Williams and Kaveh Jahanshahi, who found that major shifts in housing locations and the jobs market have increased the tendency for people to use rail.
Increases since the 1990s have been accompanied by a rise in the general population of 15 per cent, but the number of rail journeys doubled over the same period, amounting to an increase of 100 per cent.
Changes in the job market have played a part. Many more people work in offices now and fewer in manufacturing, and it is office-based workers who are more likely to commute by train....
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