Railway Mode Research Articles

Forecasting the volume of urban freight traffic

The efficient development of transportation vehicles in conditions of stiff competition and global digitalization depends on the correct methodology and forecasting of freight transportation. A review of scientific literature showed that all studies are directed towards the railway mode of transportation. The research conducted in this work focuses on freight transportation by road transport in the city of Almaty, where trucks remain the sole means of delivering goods from one point to another at the local transportation level. The main goal of the research presented in this article is to analyze statistical indicators of transportation volumes and freight turnover by road transport and develop software aimed at forecasting the expected volume of freight transportation. In logistics planning and management, the moving average method is employed to predict truckload volumes and freight turnover for the next year. This method works by averaging data points to smooth out random fluctuations, thereby providing a more stable forecast. This phenomenon arises from replacing the original levels of the time series with arithmetic means calculated for certain time intervals. To facilitate transportation volume planning and substantiate the optimality of freight transportation, it is necessary to have up-to-date statistical data. These statistic data serve as the basis for constructing a dynamic representation of automobile traffic volumes and freight turnover in the city of Almaty. The growth rates of indicators are calculated to assess dynamics. The forecasting aspect of freight transportation volume is addressed by developing an algorithm based on the moving average method.

Adoption of Multi-Modal Transportation for Configuring Sustainable Agri-Food Supply Chains in Constrained Environments

Agri-food supply chains have the potential to make a significant contribution to achieving sustainable development goals through ongoing improvements in their configurations. A range of strategic, tactical, and operational level decisions pertaining to the design and operation of sustainable supply chains have been studied in the extant literature. However, investigations into the adoption of multi-modal transportation as a strategic decision in the context of agri-food supply chains operating in constrained environments are limited. As such, in this study, the adoption of bi-modal transportation for the domestic vegetable supply chain in a developing country context under certain constraints was examined. A mixed-integer linear programming model was developed to determine the volume and direction of the product flow to achieve the minimum total food-miles and smallest emissions footprint. As a case study, a Sri Lankan mainstream vegetable supply chain was used to investigate the applicability of a combination of truck and railway modes to transport vegetables from farms to retailer locations via economic (consolidation) centers. The adoption of a bi-modal transportation structure demonstrated the potential to reduce food miles by 32%, transportation costs by 36%, contributions to global warming potential by 35%, and empty truck hauls by 38%, compared to a structure with truck-based, uni-modal transportation.

The impact of railway incidents on train delays: A case of the Swedish Railway Network

A foreseeable challenge with a substantial increase in railway mode share will be how to uphold punctuality. Higher volumes of train traffic will result in timetables that are more sensitive to disruptions; whose severity and frequency is also expected to increase in light of greater asset utilization and climate change. This calls for a definitive understanding of the relationship between incidents and train delays as a prerequisite to developing robust timetables and disruption management strategies. In this paper we propose a novel framework for quantifying the impact of railway incidents on train delays. Using a case of the Swedish Railway Network, we compare the impact of different incidents on train delays. The impact of delay is defined as a factor of the incident rate, exposure rate, delay rate and historical average delay minutes per incident. A logistic model that estimates the probability of delay for any train, in the event of a failure, is also developed. Snow on track was established as most critical, resulting in the highest normalized delay minutes per train and the largest increase in the odds of delay for individual trains. The proposed framework & approach can be applied to other networks.

SUEZ CANAL: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON ALTERNATIVE TRADE ROUTES

Objective: This research aimed to analyze the main alternative routes to Suez Canal Route (SCR): North Sea Route (NSR) and Trans-Siberian Route (TSR). Method: A systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out using the Web of Science (WoS) database. Forty-eight related articles were found, of which 16 remained for further analysis after refinement. Main Results: It was identified that the TSR and NSR routes are economically viable compared to the SCR, given certain specific conditions, and that the railway mode is less studied in relation to the maritime mode. Relevance / Originality: Possible alternative trade routes for the transportation of goods, both via maritime and railway modes, were identified, with the highlighting of advantages and disadvantages. Theoretical / Methodological Contributions: The study is relevant for the international logistics field, since, by analyzing each transport mode, it was possible to highlight issues that need to be further explored in relation to existing routes. Social / Management Contributions: This study contributed to determining TSR as the most cost-effective route according to the articles analyzed in the SLR. It also clarified issues such as prices, costs, distances, advantages and disadvantages, sustainability issues, as well as updated data from other studies.

Analysis of Indonesia’s Railway Track Structure Behavior Under Double-Stack Freight Train Loading

The growing number of freight transported using railway transport is massive. Indonesia targeted 995,500,000 tons of freight transported using the railway mode. Double-stack train is one solution to increase thefreight tonnage of the train without adding the number of operations of the train. The 3D ANSYS model ismade to see the structural behavior of railway tracks under the double-stack train load using 1067 mm and 1435 mm gauge from Indonesia’s railway track regulation. It was also modeled with several speeds to observe its influence on the structure. It is known that in all output parameters of deformation, stress, and strain, the 1435 mm gauge actsbetter for the structure than the 1067 mm gauge. The subgrade service life also became longer in the 1435 mm gauge structure. Lower speed also gives a better impactonthe structure of the track and possible to give longer service life for subgrade.Further research isneeded to observe the railway track structural behavior in cyclic loading and the possibilityofreinforcing the subgrade. The lab-scale test also needed to validate the analysis.

Overview of Stability and Coordination Control for MVDC Traction Power Supply System

The traditional 25KV electric railways have various problems such as power quality issues, passing neutral sections, complex storage, and utilization of regenerative braking energy, the medium‐voltage direct current (MVDC) traction power supply system (TPSS) may be a potential alternative electric railway mode and can be freely accessed to the renewable energy and energy storage systems, which is an important development direction of the future low‐carbon RES. This paper first describes the structure and characteristics of the current Railway Electrification System (RES), and then analyzes and summarizes the current research status of the MVDC TPSS topology structure, modeling method, stability criterion, and analysis method and coordination control strategy. Finally, combined with the research status, the development direction of the MVDC TPSS has prospected. © 2023 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Estimation of Transfer Time from Multimodal Transit Services in the Paris Region

A reliable public transport system is beneficial for people traveling in the metropolitan area. Transfer time in multimodal transit networks has been highlighted as one of the measures of public transport service quality. In this paper, we propose a novel method to estimate the passengers’ transfer time between the transit modes (i.e., train, metro, and bus) based on the 2018 Household Travel Survey in the Paris region, France. The transit trips with a single transit leg are primarily studied, wherein average wait time and mode speeds are estimated through an integrated linear regression model. Based on these inferences, transfer time is deduced within the trips of multiple transit legs. The decomposition procedure of journey time facilitates the estimation of the time components, and reveals the transfer variability in mode, time, and space. From the results, we find that the transfer to the railway modes, especially to the metro, costs less time on average than the transfer to the bus in the study area. The transfer patterns in the morning and evening peak hours are different regarding the transfer duration and locations. Lastly, the results’ reliability, method scalability, and potential applications are discussed in detail.

Future scenarios for the European railway sector: A methodology based on past trends and a stated preference survey

The strengthening of the railway mode is one of the main policies that can help to achieve more sustainable future mobility. A methodology is presented to estimate future transport demand scenarios over the medium (2030) and long term (2050) considering three trip lengths: urban, regional, and long distance for two trip purposes: work and leisure. The objective of the scenarios is to answer the question: would railways benefit from a 10% drop in car usage? Qualitative techniques have been applied, based on in-depth interviews and focus groups, as well as a stated preference survey where the people sampled answered to different scenarios which included the presence of a new train, with a high level of service, and other possible new modes of transport such as autonomous cars and buses. The results obtained using Best-Worst discrete choice models show that the rail mode could capture a significant part of the demand from the car over all three journey lengths, but especially for long distance, if the new rail mode were introduced.

APPLICATION OF GENETIC ALGORITHMS AT THE PLANNING STAGE OF INTERNATIONAL INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATIONS

The necessity to transport goods has always been a crucial component of everysociety. It is difficult to imagine a modern country without an advanced transport network andtechnology, which is why the latest computer systems have been developed over the past decades tomeet the needs of carriers. The study of this logistics segment shows that the complexity of thetechnological process of international intermodal transportation causes a range of problems to allparties involved in transportation. An advanced transport network provides a large number ofpossible options for the transportation of goods or commodities. That is why the computerization ofthe planning process is the next step in the evolution of transport logistics. This article describes theusage of software based on genetic algorithms to settle and improve the use of commercialIncoterms 2020. Taking into account all the limitations of existing software, it is proposed to use aheuristic approach to find the optimum transportation option and automate the planning process.Ukraine has always assigned a priority role to the railway mode of transport. This is why therailway industry has always been an integral part of the multimodal transportation process.Analysis of imports and exports shows stable growth over the past ten year period. Additionally,Ukraine enjoys a very advantageous geographical location, in that four important transportcorridors cross the territory of our country. Studies indicate that innovations in this area willpositively contribute to the credibility of Ukrainian carriers. Further, the article describes thetypical problems that arise during the usage of the basic Incoterms terms of delivery, including thecomplexity of customs procedures and clearance of goods, as well as unforeseen monetary costsarising from the difference in the laws of the countries participating in the transportation process.The author proposes the automation of the transportation planning process as a key to solving thesedisadvantages. The proposed innovation does not require significant investment and can createpositive economic value by substantially reducing the cost of transportation.

An Integrated Methodology for the Multi-Objective Optimization of Port Railway Capacity: The Case Study of the Port of Trieste

The relevant pressure exerted on ports following the advent of globalization and containerization has contributed to transform the role of such intermodal transport facilities, increasing their complexity with reference to both performed activities and involved actors. The potential of solid hinterland connections in enhancing port competitiveness has sustained the larger embracement of the railway mode, which has proved to be a financially and environmentally sustainable solution, especially on long hauls. However, the limited residual capacity currently characterizing several railway network and nodes may threaten the accommodation of additional future traffic volumes and, thus, it requires the adoption of a coordinated strategy to more efficiently manage existing railway infrastructures, other than the realization of some new ones. In this regard, an integrated methodology has been developed to specifically model, simulate and optimize port railway processes, as part of a more complex system, imposing the maximization of capacity with the concurrent minimization of used shunting locomotives, to varying of infrastructural and operational conditions. This combination of techniques has been applied to the case study of the Port of Trieste, Italy, showing the greater influence of tracks availability over changes in the operational conditions, in terms of a shorter duration of specific administrative tasks and the employment of more shunting locomotives.

Concept and algorithm of justification of transport and logistics schemes for delivery of export-import dry cargo with participation of river transport of Russia

The article discusses the development of the transport of dry goods, including in containers, along the inland waterways of Russia. The authors presented the concept and algorithm of substantiating transport and logistics schemes for the delivery of export-import dry cargo with the participation of river transport, since it is here that justified and comprehensive state measures are needed to increase the role of this transport in cooperation with railway, road and sea modes of transport. Factors that negatively affect the functioning of river transport are described, topical transport and logistics schemes for the transport of dry cargo are proposed: through the Northern Sea Route or railway transport (Alternative - through Gibraltar and the Suez Canal); through the international transport corridor (ITC) «North-South»; the scheme of transportation of export-import dry cargo to the regions of Russia and vice versa "Western Europe - Russia." The conclusion contains a list of measures to develop further research.

Magistral transport as a key link in the Russian transport system

The subject of the study is the study of the characteristics of cargo flows on the two largest types of main transport (sea and rail) in the world and in Russia. The relevance of the research topic is associated with the expansion of the functional capabilities of main transport, as well as with the complexity and lengthening of logistics supply chains in global commodity exchange, and the intensification of international trade. Methods applied logistics, general theory of systems, analytical, marketing, statistical, project methods, as well as materials of general access and official sites, own research. Researched railway and sea transport modes are characterized, their operational indicators are analyzed, the scale of cargo flows in the world and in Russia is estimated, as well as a brief description of the performance indicators of main modes of transport and the role of railway transport in the Russian economy is described. Russia has railway and marine types of main transport were studied. Taking into account the spatial and geographical location of our country, the importance and role of railway transport are manifested both in domestic transport and in international cross-border logistics, as well as in the organization of cargo transportation in the world’s commodity distribution networks. But along with this, there are huge areas in Russia where the railway network is very rare or absent. It is noted that the attractiveness and importance of rail transport for the carriage of goods due to such reasons as the orientation of the domestic economy on commodity exports (raw materials more profitable to haul trains) and underdevelopment of the road network.

Passenger’s choice in responding to inter-city railway operation for Makassar - Parepare line: a conditional logit model based on stated preference method

The present paper aims to model the passenger’s choice in responding to the inter-city railway operation for Makassar-Parepare line. The railway line is the first railway track in Eastern Part of Indonesia, and it is still under construction. In this regard, the study attempted to construct the passenger’s preferences through a conditional logit model approach based on the stated preference method. The study considered some main attributes of transport mode services, i.e., travel cost, travel time, and frequency. In further, the study also taking account into the model two additional attributes of the mode, i.e., transfer travel time and transfer travel cost. The data collection of the study carried out an interview method using questionnaire sheet based the stated preference method. The study experimented with varying the level of service for the main attributes of the two available travel modes, i.e., railway and private car modes. The study results showed that passengers prefer to choose one of both travel modes when the mode has travel time faster than the other one, as well as for the lower travel cost. In addition, the inter-city travelers more considered the transfer travel cost attribute than the transfer travel time attribute, when they face both travel mode choice, the new railway mode, and the existing private car mode.

Estimation of Disease Transmission in Multimodal Transportation Networks

Mathematical models are important methods in estimating epidemiological patterns of diseases and predicting the consequences of the spread of diseases. Investigation of risk factors of transportation modes and control of transportation exposures will help prevent disease transmission in the transportation system and protect people’s health. In this paper, a multimodal traffic distribution model is established to estimate the spreading of virus. The analysis is based on the empirical evidence learned from the real transportation network which connects Wuhan with other cities. We consider five mainstream travel modes, namely, auto mode, high-speed railway mode, common railway mode, coach mode, and flight mode. Logit model of economics is used to predict the distribution of trips and the corresponding diseases. The effectiveness of the model is verified with big data of the distribution of COVID-19 virus. We also conduct model-based tests to analyze the role of lockdown on different travel modes. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis is implemented, the results of which assist in policy-making for containing infection transmission through traffic.

Determining variations in rail public transport access using GIS in Klang Valley City, Selangor, Malaysia

About 75% of urban areas in Malaysia have an excellent public transportation system. Malaysian Intelligent Transport System (MITS) Blueprint 2017 – 2022 is developed and mentioned public transport as the infrastructure for traffic management and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) will change the global landscape of public transportation. The primary purpose of this paper is to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for identifying spatial accessibility to transport in Klang Valley, Selangor supported the movement of the walk-distance analysis techniques. A geospatial database was created that has the coordinate of urban public transport (railway mode), home residence distribution, and road networks. Accessibility index tool and geoprocessing by overlay analyses were selected because of the analysis tools for this paper. The paper results indicate that urban public transport in the Klang Valley districts of Selangor has fewer registered railway line stations. Several areas of Klang Valley region have low accessibility based on z-score either dispersion or clustering pattern to public transport because they fall outside the space-distance service area for every terminal. Local transport planners in Klang Valley may use the created application to allocate public transport in low access areas.

Lowering Transport Costs and Prices by Competition: Regulatory and Institutional Reforms in Low Income Countries

High passenger and freight transport costs are a barrier to economic growth and social mobility, particularly in Low Income Countries (LICs). This paper considers the current state of knowledge regarding the barriers to achieving lower generalised transport costs. It considers both the road and railway modes across passenger and freight transport. These issues include a reform on the regulations for driver hours (preventing the road infrastructure from overloading), structuring rail concessions, increasing competition, and tackling corruption. Such reforms aim to deliver efficiency gains and service quality improvements at lower costs for users. This paper identifies the knowledge gap in previous research and concludes by setting out a research agenda that builds the evidence base for how the best practices from around the world can best be applied to the specific circumstances in Low Income Countries, with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Stability Analysis of PV Plant-Tied MVdc Railway Electrification System

As ac electric railways have various problems (e.g., power quality issues, complex catenary networks, limited supply region, and passing neutral section), the medium-voltage direct current (MVdc) railway electrification system (RES) may be a potential alternative electric railway mode and can be freely accessed to the renewable energy systems. However, some instability issues may be aroused due to the interaction between flexible MVdc RES and electronic-based dc–dc equipment. In this paper, a comprehensive small-signal impedance model, combining a photovoltaic (PV) plant and an MVdc RES, is performed, while available electric variables and control parameters are taken into consideration. Then, a novel passivity-based stability criterion (PBSC) is introduced to determine the instability issue about associate influential factors, including proportional and integral parameters of traction substation and PV converters, the power of train converters, and the dc catenary length. A virtual impedance control scheme is designed to stabilize the system. The experimental results demonstrate that the PBSC can identify the instability in the MVdc RES. The results also match well and support the conclusions obtained.

The coal origin-destination matrix analysis and multimodal transportation cost modelling in the Yangtze River region, China

ABSTRACTThe railway-road-inland waterway (IWW) transportation network in the Yangtze River basin was extracted using ArcGIS software and the triangular mesh covered the simulated region was generated using GIS software. The population density and gross domestic product were chosen as the characteristic economic variables, which were interpolated spatially into the mesh to analyse the origin-destination (OD) matrix of the coal transport network. Then, the multimodal transportation cost model was developed considering the detailed cost functions of railway, road and IWW. Finally, the coal transportation cost under different transportation allocation scenarios was calculated and compared to investigate the advantages and potential of the multimodal transportation mode in the Yangtze River basin. The cost analysis about the multimodal transportation system showed that the IWW mode has great potential to decrease the transportation cost of the coal within the OD matrix although the railway mode took at least 80% of the total transportation load.

ASSESSING THE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES TRANSPORTATION IN THE STATE OF MATO GROSSO: SCENARIOS DESTINED TO EXPORTATION

The purpose of study is to assess alternatives for commodities transportation, in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil, by adopting a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Therefore, we used three models, called traditional (VRS and CRS) and the Cross - Evaluation. The inputs were the freight rate, cost of accidents and CO2 emissions, while the output was the weighted average speed of each alternative. The study evaluated the performance of seven macroregions. Results indicated the best alternatives for each microregion, in particular, the adoption of railway mode all over the transportation process was indicated considering all scenarios.

Evaluation of Geometric and Environmental Parameters in Reuse of Deactivated Railway for LRV Implantation

A portion of the origin-destination matrix of freight transport in Brazil corresponds to the railway mode; however, a small part of the matrix of passengers is represented by the modalities that use railway lines. The country has an extensive railway network, mainly in the southeast, but some parts are deactivated. This article aims to present a study of the possibility of implementation of a Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) on a stretch that is not in use, since the superstructure has a long useful life and therefore the railroad can be reused for a new use. For this analysis, the geometric parameters of the radius and velocity of the track and the environmental parameters of the domain range, such as the altimetry, amplitude, slope and susceptibility to sliding of the soil according to the Shalstab model, were used.