Understanding preferences for night trains and their potential to replace flights in Europe. The case of Sweden.

Abstract

Abstract Possible strategies to mitigate the climate impact of tourism transport include encouraging tourism to closer destinations and supporting more sustainable modes of transport, including trains. Today international trips by railways only have a small market share but night trains are considered an important part of a future green Europe. However, little is known about travelers’ preferences for night trains for long-distance travel in Europe. The results of an integrated choice and latent variable model (ICLV) applied to stated preference (SP) data collected from 1,691 residents of Sweden show that, depending on place of origin in Sweden, in response to a set of innovations, including reduced travel time emanating from ongoing infrastructure investments, and the introduction of new, more comfortable trains, the share of plane users willing to switch to night trains to Central Europe could reach 20-30% and to Southern Europe, 6-10%.