Heuristic Approach to Some European Rail Companies Activity

Rail transport has long played an important role in the economic development for any country. However, many rail companies in the world have been losing the passenger and/or freight market shares to other modes, such as highway and air carriers over the past few decades. Improvement of their technical efficiency and service effectiveness or enhancement of the productivity and sales force is essential for the rails to maintain competitive and sustainable in the transport market. Understanding the causes of inefficiency and ineffectiveness is perhaps even more useful if one attempts to propose the improvement strategies. Our objective is simple. We are analyzing fourteen companies, operating within the railway industry. We want to see the evolution of their activity, which is affordable for the Member States they operate. Also, this paper mainly addresses passengers, but recognizes the importance of freight. Generally, the aforementioned companies usually encounter more barriers and face more constraints when planning and implementing their activity behavior. Transportation should be provided for all the people, to support their participation in various activities, such as work, education, leisure and recreational activities by clearing away all sorts of physical and mental barriers. The railway is a major contributor to the modern European economy. A modern economy requires increasingly specialist skills and the ability to pull them together to focus on a business endeavor. Good railway transport allows this to happen.