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  <doc>
    <id>1009</id>
    <completedYear>2025</completedYear>
    <publishedYear/>
    <thesisYearAccepted/>
    <language>eng</language>
    <pageFirst/>
    <pageLast/>
    <pageNumber>233</pageNumber>
    <edition/>
    <issue/>
    <volume/>
    <type>masterthesis</type>
    <publisherName/>
    <publisherPlace/>
    <creatingCorporation/>
    <contributingCorporation/>
    <belongsToBibliography>0</belongsToBibliography>
    <completedDate>2025-07-15</completedDate>
    <publishedDate>2025-05-11</publishedDate>
    <thesisDateAccepted>2025-05-11</thesisDateAccepted>
    <title language="eng">Cross-border rail travel in Europe – Scenario analysis of factors influencing travel and booking decisions</title>
    <abstract language="eng">The research objective of this study was to derive short- to medium-term measures for actors along the customer journey that satisfy the needs of train travelers and promote the decision to travel by train. The aim is to gain an in-depth understanding of the socio-demographic characteristics of current cross-border travelers and their needs along the customer journey. Cross-border train journeys should be designed in a timely manner so that the touchpoints of the customer journey are designed to be traveler-friendly to have a positive impact on the travel and booking decision.&#13;
This work is based on a purely qualitative research design with two different forms of data collection to be able to take the perspective of both the travelers and the actors in European rail transport. The qualitative research approach was tested in the run-up to this work in the form of a pre-test. This took the form of a qualitative semi-structured survey and was found to be suitable for the research objective and topic of this thesis. The findings were incorporated into the research of this thesis, which took the form of semi-structured qualitative interviews in cross-border trains in different regions of Europe. A total of 61 people were interviewed. The results of the interviews and other questions were then discussed in a qualitative focus group discussion with eleven stakeholders in European rail transport, which took place online. The results of the interviews and the focus group discussion were analyzed using MAXQDA software and a qualitative content analysis. The theoretical basis of the research is the customer journey, which describes the traveler's process and touchpoints and the influence of the traveler's needs on the travel and booking decision. To classify the customer journey, the methodology of scenario analysis is used to portray the current state and future possibilities of cross-border European rail travel.&#13;
The results of this work show that cross-border train passengers are a diverse target group with a wide range of needs and expectations of cross-border train travel. They show that some needs are already being met in the current customer journey. Other needs are not yet met and offer great potential for optimization in European cross-border rail travel. Digital solutions can be particularly highlighted here, as they are currently accepted by most travelers and yet pose major challenges. Awareness of these challenges was emphasized by the stakeholders and addressing them was seen as a priority. Nevertheless, satisfying the needs is only possible if all stakeholders act in a traveler-oriented manner in all phases and touchpoints of the customer journey, so that the travel decision is favored for the train in the short and medium term.&#13;
The research in this paper is limited in that it only looks at the phases of the customer journey that lead up to the travel and booking decision. However, the phase during the trip and after the trip are also essential for the implementation of the measures. There is a need for further research in an overall view of all actors and political decision-makers involved, from the infrastructure to after the trip, to analyze their influence on the travel and booking decision and to be able to specifically identify optimization potential.</abstract>
    <identifier type="urn">urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-10099</identifier>
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    <enrichment key="opus.doi.autoCreate">false</enrichment>
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    <licence>Creative Commons - CC BY-SA - Namensnennung - Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen 4.0 International</licence>
    <author>Alicia Linda Klein</author>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>train traveling</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>socio-demographics</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>cross-border traveling</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>customer needs</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>european rail transport</value>
    </subject>
    <collection role="open_access" number="">open_access</collection>
    <collection role="institutes" number="">Fachbereich Nachhaltige Wirtschaft</collection>
    <thesisPublisher>Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung Eberswalde</thesisPublisher>
    <thesisGrantor>Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung Eberswalde</thesisGrantor>
    <file>https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-hnee/files/1009/Master_thesis_Alicia_Klein.pdf</file>
  </doc>
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