The PRAISE (Privatisation of Rail Services) model was initially developed at the Institute for Transport Studies to look at the potential for open access competition on the Leeds-London corridor but it has subsequently been applied to other routes in the UK (e.g. Gatwick Express) and overseas (e.g. Stockholm-Gothenburg). More recently, the model has been re-written and developed for the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) as a Windows software package capable of assessing many routes and operating conditions. The software comprises a demand model, a cost model and an evaluation model. The model generates output that can be used in a formal appraisal system. This output includes passenger demand, passenger distance, operator revenue, operator costs, profitability, user benefits (consumer surplus), overcrowding, and diversion to and from other modes in terms of passenger numbers and passenger distance. In an interesting study conducted on behalf of the SRA, the PRAISE model was adapted to include generalised journey cost penalties for overcrowding based upon journey purpose, journey time and degree of overcrowding. Using demand, fares and timetable information for an actual case study route, it was examined how fares and ticketing restrictions can be set to manage demand throughout the day without significantly reducing the overall demand for rail travel. The implied cross elasticities between ticket types are then compared against recent empirical findings. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126595.
Abstract