Future Urban Rail Scenarios

The way in which the Australian rail industry goes about meeting growing and changing demands for urban rail services presents an enormous challenge. The provision of adequate and appropriate rail resources and infrastructure for the future will place extreme pressure on urban rail operators. At present, the rail industry does not have evidence-based scenarios to provide a framework for the development of policy that will assist in the creation of the sort of future urban rail systems that are best placed to meet society’s needs. This project will review contemporary literature to identify the main drivers of urban rail futures. The project will provide guidance for future research into likely scenarios that will confront urban rail in the future. Identification and elaboration of likely alternative futures will provide policy makers and urban rail operators with appropriate planning frameworks.