A number of factors are forcing the pace of change in the passenger rail industry:

• Increasingly Demanding Customers wanting simpler, easier and more comfortable services, placing higher value on speed and time reliability.

• Aggressive Regulators focusing on ensuring that customer demands are met and that operators are regulated commercially.

• New Competition is emerging as mobility gains ground and new combinations of travel modes arise

To respond rapidly and effectively to customer market demand, while maintaining corporate objectives to minimize resource costs, requires a balancing act. A significant part of the challenge is adopting organizational models prioritized around the market and customer segments. This requires understanding those customers, identifying and developing customer-focused processes, to create new products and services that meet their needs.

This balancing act is well-known by many rail operators. They depend on higher passenger volumes, higher yield on the traffic mix, while ensuring operating capacity to match demand and lower unit costs. In moving from a cost constraint environment to a market-driven one, the strategic objective is to capture new revenue streams and retain or increase market share by providing superior services to customers.