Railways as a Key Part of Integrated Transport Systems

Integrated passenger transport system consists of many factors with various impacts on the entire system quality. In passenger transport, there are mostly individual passengers therefore it is difficult to determine all transport requirements. In the passenger transport system, there are several modes of transport, but passengers mostly use road and rail transport. Passenger transport system is influenced by many qualitative factors with various impacts. The paper is focused on analysis of the role of railways in integrated passenger transport systems. The analysis is from passenger point of view because the key element in railway passenger transport is the passenger (customer), who requires the transport from one place to another. A basic precondition for accomplishing the main requirement (transport), is making the complete offer which provides not only transport, but also other complementary services. There are several types of passenger trains, which jointly create a part of integrated transport system. Quality of this transport system depends on train route topology, timetable of trains, number and location of all stations and stops. Primary function of the transport system is providing transport for passengers on regional, national-interregional and international level; therefore, the analysis involves these levels.