Modelling the demand for rail in an urban context: Some methodological aspects

In the recent years, the reduction of urban road accessibility and the restrictions to urban centres for environmental issues are pushing to investigate freight solutions based on railway use. With respect to this growing interest, few studies have explored methods and models for modelling freight demand for rail in urban context. Therefore, the paper explores this incoming research challenge giving some methodological aspects for rail demand simulation. Subsequently, a recent modelling framework is recalled and some advancements that allow to point out the rail transport alternative are presented.