Selection of LRT system track gauge using multi-criteria decision-making (City of Zagreb)

Abstract

Public urban passenger transit in the City of Zagreb consists of trams, buses and rail traffic. Constant growth of the motorization level in the City of Zagreb, and the existing condition of public urban transit which fails more and more in satisfying the traffic demand, impose the need to introduce a new urban transport subsystem. In order to meet the current and future needs, and to improve the level of the quality of service, the introduction of LRT system is proposed, which has also been planned by the urban planning-traffic documentation of the City of Zagreb. One of the problems in the planning of LRT system is the selection of the track gauge regarding the possibility of connection to the existing tram network (1000 mm), i.e. railway network (1435 mm). The paper applies the AHP method (Analytic Hierarchy Process) for the selection of the optimal track gauge, as one of the multi-criteria decision making methods. The hierarchic structure of all relevant criteria and their sub-criteria will be defined.