13. These benefits arise from the fact that the Link will reduce rail journey times on some routes, thus reducing the generalised cost of travelling by train. This will make rail travel more competitive with travel by road in congested peak conditions, so there will be some switching to rail, known as "Modal Switching".
14. Modal switching reduces road traffic flows and hence reduces road journey times. This brings time savings to those who remain on the road network, and it is these that are reflected in the £30 million figure. This was estimated in a 1993 Union Railways Ltd report. The small amount of road decongestion benefits included reflects the fact that there is probably little scope for modal switching from cars on the routes for which domestic services will run. The Department was unable to locate the detailed calculations of the figure, so we have not been able to verify this.