Intercity Passenger Rail: Implications for Urban, Regional, and National Mobility

Project Description

Recent policy and regulatory actions by the U.S. government have signaled a new role for high-speed and other forms of passenger rail as a mobility solution for congested intercity travel corridors across the country. Intercity passenger rail can support urban and regional mobility by offering an alternative to automobile travel for long-distance commuting trips and inter-regional trips (out-of-town day trips for business as an example). This project examines the urban, regional, and national mobility impacts of passenger rail in intercity corridors.

Using the Milwaukee-Chicago Hiawatha Service as a case study, researchers used findings from surveys to synthesize the impacts of intercity passenger rail on urban, regional, and national mobility. For passenger rail planning, the findings can be used in formulating service development plans for future intercity passenger rail routes, to the extent that the corridors being considered are similar to the Hiawatha Service corridor. Findings on the mode split of passenger station access and egress can be used to aid planners in developing site layout and parking plans for new or renovated stations along a rail corridor.

In the development of state rail plans, the findings can be used by rail planners to quantify the impacts of intercity passenger rail service on statewide mobility and to identify rail infrastructure or equipment investments to support a desired level of rail service across a state. Legislators and their staff can use the findings to support policy formation and decision making on transportation investments.

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