Planning and valorization of the branch Xa of Corridor X from the aspects of external costs

Luka Vukić,Tanja Poletan Jugović

doi:10.31217/p.30.2.8

Abstract

Branch Xa of Pan-European Transport Corridor X has a strategic importance for Croatia since this corridor (Corridor branch) enables linking of Croatia with Slovenia and Austria, which, according to the current data on the structure of trade in goods from countries, is counted among five most important Croatian trading partners. Therefore, the valorization of the branch of Corridor X has unquestionable importance for the Croatian economy and the associated surroundings that gravitate in the transport route. Conditional on the numerous geo-transport and socioeconomic factors, the valorization of transport corridor on the transport market is determined also by the value of transport (traffic) services that are determined by the costs incurred in its production. Accordingly, the underlying problem of the present study is to analyze the external costs of the branch of Corridor X which, although, belong to the category of social costs borne by society, have the intention to become, over various regulatory measures (excise), an integral part of the costs of the conveyor. With the aim of the research in this study, which, generally, supports the need for internalization of the external costs, as the essential factors of valorization of the transport corridors, a comparative analysis of external costs of the branch of Corridor X between the road and rail transport was performed. As input data, the results of in-depth analysis were used, resulting from the studies of the European Commission for the European Union, specifically Studies for Corridor X and Studies on East-Mediterranean transport routes. The research results show that the mean values of external costs of freight rail transport on the branch Xa are almost five times fewer than the average value of external costs of road transport and that, in accordance with the purpose of these investigations, the internalization of external costs is unquestionably required for planning the traffic flows and valorization of the route.

Highlights

International transport corridors, passing through the Republic of Croatia, represent a fundamental potential of development and integrate Croatian transport network into a trans-European corridor network
If only 10 % of trade with these countries went by road corridor Xa, which is of strategic importance for the two countries, external costs would have represented the important resources
Road transport is the largest generator of external costs in the choice of transport modality, and it reflects the total share of external costs of this mode which leads with 83 %

Summary

Introduction

International transport corridors, passing through the Republic of Croatia, represent a fundamental potential of development and integrate Croatian transport network into a trans-European corridor network. The direction and intensity of cargo flow are the main indicators of position and competitiveness of a corridor on the market of transport services. The external costs of freight transport are important factor in the choice of the modalities of transportation and route. These are costs of damage occurring in the production of transport services considering as social costs which have not been covered by the service provider. By the instruments of internalization, various countries seek to charge large amount of external costs, which become an essential element in the total cost of transportation

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Results

Conclusion