Railway Passenger Service Research Articles

Competition in regional passenger rail transport in Germany (Leipzig) and lessons to be drawn for France

The opening to competition in Germany's regional railway transport is interesting to investigate as some EU countries find it difficult to move towards the implementation of European Union Guidelines. In this paper, we investigate Leipzig's regional passenger railway services opening to competition between 2009 and 2013, time when Leipzig's new underground City Tunnel was opened within a new transport plan. We will assess costs structure of operating regional railway passenger transport before and after competition. We will show that the introduction of competition in Leipzig region has reduced the level of subsidy by 20% and improved productivity of the incumbent operator.

Integrated Timetables for Railway Passenger Transport Services

Rail passenger transport services with integrated regular interval timetables (IRIT) offer passengers a regular interval timetable for services on the railway network. IRIT have the potential to increase the quality and attractiveness of railway passenger services in comparison to other transport modes. This article summarizes the advantages and challenges of an implementation of IRIT for railway passenger services and derives the main requirements for the successful introduction of IRIT. The comparison of the regulatory framework, the role of IRIT and the development of passenger railway services in CH, the NL and the UK, shows that in those countries, where either IRIT has been introduced (CH) or the high frequency of trains between cities provides for a system comparable to IRIT (NL), railway services play a more important role in the modal split. The successful introduction of IRIT requires a long-run implementation schedule which identifies the necessary investments in the railway infrastructure and points out the financial resources available to make those investments. Furthermore, IRIT requires a high level of punctuality of railway passenger services, the coordination between railway companies when designing the timetable and a priority rule for passenger railway services within IRIT when there are capacity restrictions on the railway network.

Study on Railway Passenger Service Based on Customer Perception

Three major links of railway passenger transportation service including ticket selling, waiting and travel on-board are introduced in view of customers, which display the outline of China railway transportation briefly. China railway is entering high speed railway generation. It is facing a more competitive market. It must works hard to improve its service to enhance passengers satisfaction in order to attract more customers. Customers interest must be put in the first place whether tangible or intangible service is supplied.

Competitive Procurement Design: Evidence from Regional Passenger Railway Services in Germany

We study competitive awarding procedures of short haul railway passenger services in Germany from 1995 to 2011 by means of a newly collected data set. In particular, we use regression techniques to investigate the determinants of the number of bidders, the identity of the winning bidder and the subsidy level. We find that there are more bidders when the contract duration is high and the revenue risk low. The dominant operator is more likely to win contracts if it is the incumbent, the network is large, the contract duration is high, when used rolling stock is admitted and when there are few other bidders.

Study of Railway Track Irregularity Standard Deviation Time Series Based on Data Mining and Linear Model

Good track geometry state ensures the safe operation of the railway passenger service and freight service. Railway transportation plays an important role in the Chinese economic and social development. This paper studies track irregularity standard deviation time series data and focuses on the characteristics and trend changes of track state by applying clustering analysis. Linear recursive model and linear-ARMA model based on wavelet decomposition reconstruction are proposed, and all they offer supports for the safe management of railway transportation.

Research on Railway Passenger Service Information System Model of the Smartphone Platform

Traditional railway passenger services system lacks comprehensive information, and the phone booking system for railway and railway customer service center just starting to use do not guarantee that the information is obtained in real time. For the status quo, proposed a model based on smartphone platforms of railway passenger service information system (RPSIS). Elaborated the SOA characteristic in detail, constructed one overall frame of railroad passenger service information system based on the smartphone platform using Service-oriented architecture systems integration program. Divided into the presentation layer, the business logic layer, the service layer and the integrated application system layer adopting Web service technology. Provided the package on the distributed system and the integration of the heterogeneous data. Finally gave the implementation of the system.

Increased coordination in public transport—which mechanisms are available?

After several years of New Public Management reforms within public transport, coordination seems to receive increased attention. With examples of actual as well as suggested changes taken from Denmark, Sweden and the UK the aim of the article is to analyse and classify the mechanisms utilized and suggested to increase coordination between core stakeholders within passenger railway services and bus services. Four distinctive mechanisms of coordination are suggested, namely organisational coordination, contractual coordination, partnership coordination and discursive coordination. Each coordination mechanism has its strengths and failures. The article also debates to what extent the mechanisms conflict with three core characteristics of New Public Management: Unbundling of the public sector into corporatized units; more contract-based competitive provision; and greater emphasis on output controls.

Exploring passenger anxiety associated with train travel

Although people are often encouraged to use public transportation, the riding experience is not always comfortable. This study uses service items to measure passenger anxieties by applying a conceptual model based on the railway passenger service chain perspective. Passenger anxieties associated with train travel are measured using a modern psychometric method, the Rasch model. This study surveys 412 train passengers. Analytical results indicate that the following service items cause passenger anxiety during trains travel: crowding, delays, accessibility to a railway station, searching for the right train on a platform, and transferring trains. Empirical results obtained using the Rasch approach can be used to derive an effective strategy to reduce train passenger anxiety. This empirical study also demonstrates that anxiety differs based on passenger sex, age, riding frequency, and trip type. This information will also prove useful for transportation planners and policy-makers when considering the special travel needs of certain groups to create a user-friendly railway travel environment that promotes public use.

Evaluation Research on the Quality of the Railway Passenger Service Based on the Linguistic Variables and the Improved PROMETHEE-II Method

The evaluation of quality of the railway passenger service is an important way to know the quality of the railway passenger service. This paper firstly constructs an evaluation indicator system of the quality of the railway passenger service on the foundation of the related literatures, and constructs the multiple-attribute evaluation matrix and indicator weight vector based on the linguistic variables. Then the linguistic variables are transformed to triangular fuzzy numbers, and the priority relation based on the evaluation of the “common rule” is constructed using the improved PROMETHEE-II method. Then the fuzzy positive flux, fuzzy negative flux and fuzzy net flux are calculated. According to the triangular fuzzy number expected value of the net flux, the order of the projects is confirmed. Finally, the evaluation model is used to the evaluation of passenger service quality of three railway station of Ji’nan railway Administration. The application instance shows that this method is easy to use and can be used widely.

USE of Railway Analysis Tools from an Australian Perspective

The functions of Australia’s railways are divided between the delivery of suburban passenger railway services, long distance general and intermodal freight services and regional bulk commodity haulage. There is a national interest in the efficient carriage of export freight flows because Australia is a major trading nation. Australia’s railways are expected play their part in hauling export commodities. Unsurprisingly, there are conflicting demands on these railways. Hence, universities, and the industry itself, are directing research and investigation effort into policy, planning, engineering, operational and human factors matters. A question which then arises is what means could be used to analyse the problems identified during this research and investigation. This paper is thus concerned with the inter-relationships between the planning, engineering and operations of railways in Australia. It identifies four areas of analysis associated with the planning and development of railway infrastructure and operations. It then discusses a range of analytical tools which could be applied to different components of these analytical areas and critiques their appropriateness from an Australian perspective. Having made this assessment, the paper uses a recent Australian case study to show how analytical tools could be used and what lessons might be learnt from the process.

Entry in Liberalized Railway Markets: The German Experience

In Germany, competitive franchising is increasingly being used to procure passenger railway services that were previously provided by a state monopolist. This paper analyzes 77 tenders that differ with respect to network size, service frequency, contract duration and the proximity to other lines that are already run by competitors of DB Regio, a subsidiary of the successor of the former state monopolist. Our analysis shows that competitors are more likely to win small networks and more recent auctions. Other controls such as contract duration and the adjacency to other lines run by entrants are insignificant.

Railway closures to passenger traffic in Poland and their social consequences

The first part of the paper characterizes railway passenger service withdrawals on present-day Polish territory. Three periods of more extensive closures can be distinguished, including the last period of the greatest closures which took place after 1990. The second part of the paper relates to the social consequences of passenger traffic closures. Such withdrawals usually have painful results for local communities. The results of household questionnaire surveys carried out in September 2002 in 20 selected localities throughout Poland are presented.

Privatization of railway passenger services

Privatization of railway passenger services

Amtrak, the attempt to renew U.S. rail service

The decline of railway passenger train patronage and the deterioration of service in the United States have led the U.S. Government to assume control over the operation of trains via a quasi‐federal corporation called “Amtrak,” but some basic causes of the decline remain and new problems will arise as a result of this action. Two results of the neglect to assess external costs against the various transport modes is an unbalance in favor of those with the higher external costs and the continued, seemingly fundamental, unprofitability of railway passenger service, which exists even for equipment that operates at capacity! Some way of collecting external costs will have to be found, and the problems created by the new intrusion of the U.S. Government into transport will have to be faced.

The Contraction of the Network of Railway Passenger Services in England and Wales, 1836-1962

Public attention has been focused more intensely on railway closures by the dour 1963 report of the British Railways Board, The Reshaping of British Railways. Uneconomic sentiment had no part in the Board's mandate 'so to shape and operate the railways as to make them pay', a mandate it sought to achieve by 'developing to the full those parts of the system and those services which can be made to meet traffic requirements more efficiently and satisfactorily than any available form of transport and ... eliminating only those services which, by their very nature, railways are ill-suited to provide.'2 The scale of the proposed elimination of services took many by surprise, and has tended to overshadow the more important constructive suggestions. The process of elimination is as yet far from complete, and the time is not opportune to examine the pattern of closures which have taken place in consequence of this report. Concern with the present changes, dramatic though they are, has tended to obscure the extent to which the railway network has already undergone contraction, for the changes in the network presaged by the 1963 report are no more than a continuation, albeit at an accelerated rate and on a more consistent basis, of an existing process. Aspects of this theme have already been explored in a geographical context3 but hitherto little has been written of the actual pattern of earlier closures, nor have the closures themselves been mapped consistently. Maps have been constructed for limited areas or for limited periods, as for example by S. H. Beaver for the years 1925 to I936,4 whilst another approach has been that of A. C. O'Dell, whose recent map based on timetable evidence plots all stations from which passenger services were withdrawn between I899 and I962.5 The purpose of this paper is twofold, first to present maps of the routes in England and Wales from which railway passenger services had been withdrawn before 1963, and secondly to outline and illustrate the factors which gave rise to these withdrawals.