Economic outlook for the rail system

A number of key social and regional trends are likely to have an impact on demand for rail for everyday journeys:

• the continuing democratization of access to cars, which is increasing the proportion of multi-motorized households (several cars per household), which is not conducive to public transport;

• the trend in cities towards low-density suburbanization, which runs counter to the attractiveness of a mass transit mode like rail;

• changes in the labour market towards greater fragmentation, which reduces the proportion of home-to-work journeys on the traditional main routes to major urban or office centers, which is also unfavourable...