Future Developments in the Transport Infrastructure Se ctor

Transport infrastructure investments are often large, capital-intensive projects that have significant up-front costs, but the benefits or returns accrue over very long periods of time, often many decades. This longevity and the associated difficulty of ascertaining adequate returns over such a long horizon can pose a challenge to private financing and provision. Strong focus on reducing potential inefficiencies in the investment process, such as poor project selection, implementation, and monitoring, is therefore crucial in order to avoid nonproductive infrastructure, to limit the long-term output gains, and to prevent an unclear balance between private and public expenditures. This chapter focus on the future developments in the transport infrastructure sector in the perspective of the European context. The research briefly describes the main aspects affecting mobility demand trends such as demographic and trade patterns and supply trends such as technological, organisational factors or political and regulatory aspects at European level. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of some of the major megatrends affecting the sector that could have potential implications for long-term private financial investors, with a specific focus of the probable impacts on airports, ports and railways infrastructures.