Transportation Projects Research Articles

Sensitivity of a High-Speed Rail Development on Supply Chain and Logistics via Air-Rail-Road Freight Transportation

The casual effect and synergy of high-speed rail development on the modal transport changes in supply chain and logistics have not been considered well during the initial phase of any rail project design and development. This has impaired the systems integration and connectivity among the modes of transport in a region. In the United Kingdom, High Speed 2, a large-scale railway project with a planned completion date in 2033, affects many transport stakeholders. The project influences the existing transport systems, but the transport systems integration design has not been well depicted, resulting in a pressing concern on systems connectivity and social value. This is evident by many public protests along the planned route of the project. Therefore, it is important to evaluate different aspects for any possible changes in supply chains caused by the development of high-speed rail networks. This paper is the world's first to provide the sensitivity analysis of supply chains via air-rail-road freight transportation and logistics stemming from the High Speed 2 case by the rigorous assessments into the capacity, performance and environmental changes that may follow the project’s implementation. The research proposes a new method for estimation of consequences from a new transport project construction. The research findings demonstrate slight beneficial changes in freight transportation and logistics with a high potential for development; and reveal the project’s weaknesses and opportunities for better systems integration and business synergy.

Public–Private Partnership and Social Equity: An Empirical Study of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program

Pushback for public–private partnerships (P3s) comes in part from their purported favoritism toward large firms. However, no study has empirically verified this claim. This paper examined the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program to assess whether delivery methods play a role in the participation of minority- and women-owned firms in federally assisted transportation contracts. A sample of 134 contracts from the US Major Transportation Project Database served as the dataset to run linear regressions. Results revealed that P3 associates with higher DBE goals than design–bid–build (DBB). Plausible explanations include P3 being associated with a larger contract size, more public attention, more potential subcontracting opportunities with design included in the package, and intensified agency desire for greater diversity in DBE subcontracts. Moreover, the delivery method has an insignificant effect on DBE attainment. This paper also introduces the DBE envelope, a radar plot capable of graphically assessing DBE program implementation.

Human-Centred Design Approach for Revisioning Public Transportation System in Malaysia

Improving urban transportation systems requires an emphasis on users’ end-to-end journey experience, from the moment the user steps out of their home to when they arrive at their destination. In considering such end-to-end experiences, Human Centred Design (HCD) must be integrated from the very beginning to generate viable urban planning for the public. An HCD approach will encourage innovative outcomes while acknowledging all factors that need to be understood along the journey. We provide evidence through field research analysis to show that when designing and planning for well-integrated public transportation in an urban setting, it is not just about the physical manifestation of a particular outcome; moreover, it is about the context and human behaviours that need to be considered throughout the design process. Humans and their behavioural factors are vitally important to implement sustainable public transport systems for future urban infrastructure successfully. Through an in-depth literature review of HCD approaches for urban transportation systems, we provide a base to exploit the benefits and highlight the importance of including HCD in public transportation projects for greater patronage, resulting in more sustainable cities. This paper will provide a much-needed rationale behind the HCD approach in all public transportation projects to understand different levels of user experience, from the setting of transport policy to the implementation of urban infrastructure, vehicle and interface design.

Assessing economic benefits of transport projects using an integrated transport-CGE approach

Transport planners and decision-makers require reliable appraisal tools to assess the value of potential development proposals in terms of societal and economic benefits. The well-known cost benefit analysis approach as a commonly used appraisal tool imposes limitations in holistically quantifying the consequences associated with projects across different markets in the economy. The computable general equilibrium framework, as an alternative, can address some of the limitations of CBA by accounting for several properties of the supply and demand of some interacting markets by borrowing concepts from microeconomics for economic behaviour of agents. However, even with consideration of the impacts of a project on the entire economy, behavioural aspects of the transport system are typically neglected. Such aspects are crucial for transport planning purposes as well as the entire economy, so as to appropriately reflect essential properties of the transport system. Trip generation models, are the cornerstone of travel demand modelling, which are aimed to predict the future demand for mobility. In this paper, a trip generation model is integrated into a CGE model to extend the capacity of the CGE model in truly reflecting the attributes of the system and the interacting agents. The developed integrated model is used to assess the consequences associated with changes in attributes of agents and the economy on the transport system as one market among other markets. Further, a consistent data generation platform is proposed where all required data is generated using aggregate data which should be readily available.

Ghost trains: past and future mobilities haunting a Southern Town

ABSTRACT This article juxtaposes two transportation projects in the town of Ashland, Virginia, one a short-lived electric rail network from the early 20th century and the other part of a planned expansion of high-speed rail along the southeast corridor of the US. Both are ‘ghost trains,’ trains that either no longer exist or have not yet been built but still give shape to anxieties about the past and future. As a satellite of the nearby state capital Richmond, Virginia, the town’s debates about future development speak to mobilities studies scholarship about the relationship between suburbs and the city in terms of high-speed rail. The contribution of this article is to use Avery Gordon’s theory of haunting to look for overlooked histories revealed by transportation projects, principal among them the history of segregation and slavery that have so informed the American South. Disruptions of everyday routines, minor traffic accidents and catastrophes big and small, provide opportunities to see histories often rendered invisible by privilege, speed and indifference. Folklore about trains, small-town gossip and the author’s own anecdotes about growing up in the town will be used to convey the experience of witnessing these ghosts.

Prospects of Russian-Korean High-Tech Cooperation in the Arctic: New Challenges in Light of Sanctions and COVID-19

The article is devoted to the analysis of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Korea in the Arctic in the face of a pandemic Covid-19 and new sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia. In the conditions of economic slowdown, it is cooperation in high-tech industries - shipbuilding, logistics projects - has become a priority for Russian-Korean cooperation in the Arctic The authors compare the priorities of the participation of South Korean companies in the modernization of the Northern Sea Route, in the development of cooperation in shipbuilding, joint transport and logistics projects with Russia’s interests in Arctic. In the context of the pandemic, the introduction of sanitary and restrictive measures, remote staff mode, the ban on the entry of foreign specialists caused a decrease in the volume of shipping in the whole world and between Russia and the Republic of Korea. In the new conditions, business activity, mobility of investors, representatives of medium and small businesses participating in Arctic cooperation decreased. This is evident in the analysis of economic indicators. Despite the obvious negative trends, countries have managed to maintain all areas of interaction. The authors note the consistent implementation of previous agreements on major shipbuilding projects, the preservation of dialogue mechanisms to discuss transport and logistics projects in the region, taking into account the interests of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Korea.

Optimizing Investment Selection for PPP Framework in the Transport Sector: A Risk Perspective

The huge financial requirement of essential transport infrastructure system has challenged the availability of government funding. To fill the fiscal gap, public–private partnerships (PPP) framework has been applied as a promising mechanism. The success of PPP projects, however, is significantly influenced by a number of critical factors. Therefore, an optimum and comprehensive evaluation of projects, reflecting critical risks, supporting investment decisions, has been highly demanded by both the public and private sector. Various works, in previous studies, have been spreading scientific models assessing risks in the construction industry, and some of them focused on the area of PPP. However, the majority of published methods just concentrated on addressing and leveling risks, and there is a lack of application in evaluating and comparing different PPP projects, as investment options, with regards to key issues. Hence, in the situation of limited budget, the public and private partners may struggle with deciding the most potential alternative. To overcome this real-world challenge, this paper, by proposing a mathematical model, attempts to optimize investment selection by evaluating different projects' riskiness with the focus on transport projects. Different actual PPP transport projects in Vietnam were employed as case studies to analyze the practicality of the proposed application.

CLAIMS MANAGEMENT: UNDERLYING CAUSES IN MEGA-CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Construction claims remain unavoidable in any megaproject contractual relationship and can quickly escalate to misunderstandings, disputes and litigations if not appropriately managed. Disputes pose a significant risk in hindering project progress; they are characterised by lengthy legal battles that consume substantial time and financial resources. This study identifies the causes of claims encountered by clients, contractors and consultants in transport and energy sector mega construction projects in South Africa. A semi-systematic literature review was used to identify, select and appraise existing literature on this issue. Content analysis using NVivo 12 was used to identify factors causing claims in the construction sector, particularly in MCPs. Findings of the study revealed that construction projects occurring outside of South Africa experienced a delay in payments, time and cost overruns, change orders, inadequate project and drawing specifications, natural risks or force majeure. In South Africa, delays and cost overruns (due to insufficient experience and expertise of project managers and engineers) frequent to be the causes attributable to claims.

Factor Analysis of the Sydney Metro's ITS

This paper aspires to examine advanced rail transportation systems via the utilization of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) as the basis of the key integration. In doing so, the Sydney Metro ITS will be used as the basis for the case study. This paper also investigates the different perceptions for diverse rail transportation projects. Ordinarily, cities are composed of complex configurations which are supported by various disparate transport systems. These transport infrastructure in turn require comprehensive system thinking as the base research methodologies. ITS provides an excellent mechanism to simplify a city's complex transport configurations. Nevertheless, the core ITS components require careful integration and detailed attention to detail in their design. The ITS integration strategy would also amalgamate crucial transportation issues, including optimized system performance through increased productivity, improved road and traffic safety, and so on. Accordingly, this integration and consolidation of ITS would result in superior overall transportation planning schemes. The resulting improved planning methods will ultimately facilitate the various transportation operators to become better acquainted with the ITS, and to support the making of safer and more synchronized ITS. A synchronized ITS requires a comprehensive process to successfully integrate its components. To assess the Sydney Metro's ITS integration, this research utilized confirmatory factor analysis as the statistical method to produce a model indicating the existence of four sub-systems and emphasized safety standard as the key attribute for a successful deployment. The very high safety benchmark is the pinnacle of the Sydney's advanced rail transportation system.

Design of Waste Treatment Applications at PT. Rifansi Dwi Putra Using Visual Basic.Net and MySQL Database

<p class="Abstract">PT. Rifansi Dwi Putra is a company that operates in the Oil and Gas Industry, especially in the Waste Handling Transportation (WHT) Project regarding Waste Transportation. PT. Rifansi Dwi Putra especially at the Sand Management Facility (SMF) in processing waste volume data already uses a computer and is supported by Microsoft Excel software. However, doing data input, searching, processing, and reporting takes a relatively long time. So that the resulting information is less accurate, thus requests for fast and accurate information are often late in presenting their reports. In this regard, to facilitate the process of data accuracy, it is better to create an application for data collection of waste volumes using Visual Basic Programming Language and MySQL database. To facilitate the operations department, especially in recording the volume of waste transported to the Sand Management Facility (SMF) and making reports on the volume of waste to control, repair, and process data based on information technology and help the obstacles faced. To produce applications in waste volume data collection to facilitate structured data input in the data entry process, make it easier to search waste volume data, and help the management team produce accurate waste volume reports, making it easier to make decisions. The user of this application is only owned by one person because it is still a single user or stand alone (desktop-based) and this application produces three reports, namely reports per day, reports per month and reports per unit.</p>

INFRASTRUCTURE POLICY OF THE CASPIAN STATES: DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY AND GEOPOLITICAL AIMS

In recent years, the Caspian states have been paying increasingly more attention to port infrastructure development. The construction of new facilities and the reconstruction of existing ports received a new impetus. The Caspian states increase their investments in this sphere every year. They have developed national programs that aim to increase the volume of cargo passing through the Caspian states’ seaports. The development of port infrastructure, augmented by new railways, was deliberated by the Caspian states in the context of solving geopolitical problems. The advancement of the negotiation process on the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea brought the solution of economic issues to the fore, along with the development of transport and related infrastructure. The signing of this document in August 2018 only raised the interest of the regional states in trade and economic cooperation. Accordingly, one of the key tasks that the Caspian states were facing was port infrastructure development. The construction of new ports was believed to foster achievement of long-term goals. In addition to economic development, first and foremost, of coastal territories, regional countries sought to reinforce their positions in global trade flows. Besides, the facilities constructed by the Caspian countries in recent years have been integrated in large-scale infrastructure projects, which are being actively promoted by non-regional states. China, the EU and Turkey have a stake in their implementation, and the Caspian infrastructure served as a part of regional transportation projects. The adoption of documents related to the development of transport in the Caspian region by the Caspian states reflected the importance of infrastructure. They formulated long-term tasks and outlined the spheres of cooperation with their regional neighbors. The expansion of regional cooperation by the Caspian countries is accompanied by the intensified struggle for the flow of goods. The Caspian states are growing increasingly competitive in the transportation sphere. The struggle for container traffic volumes and hydrocarbon resources is pushing the Caspian states to apply various financial and administrative mechanisms in order to attract cargo.

Sustainable Urban Transportation Criteria and Measurement—A Systematic Literature Review

Sustainable transportation plays a key role in social participation and climate change. However, no universally accepted set of criteria for tracking the progress of urban sustainable transportation projects currently exists; one reason for this is the absence of a standardized lexicon for sustainability measurement elements. Therefore, this paper conducts a systematic literature review and analysis of sustainable transportation criteria using 21 papers from journals listed in the German rating system JOURQUAL3 (JQ3) and published between 2010 and 2020. The paper thus develops a unified vocabulary for sustainability measurement elements that is structured into a hierarchy. The goal (sustainable transportation) presides over the following three sustainability dimensions: objectives (e.g., minimization of traffic clogging), criteria (e.g., congestion), and indicators (e.g., cost of traffic congestion). Within the hierarchy, the main criteria for urban multimodal sustainable transportation are identified as follows: 13 social, 11 economic, and 9 environmental main criteria are determined. The three main criteria used most in the literature exclusively concern the environment. Future research is recommended to assess the interrelations between the criteria as their assignment to sustainability dimensions is ambiguous in the existing literature. This paper helps mobility managers to make decisions about urban transportation concepts and while overseeing projects.

Simulating diluted bitumen spills in boreal lake limnocorrals - Part 1: Experimental design and responses of hydrocarbons, metals, and water quality parameters

Large-scale, in-lake enclosures (limnocorrals) were used to simulate spills of diluted bitumen (dilbit) in a boreal lake. In this study we use these simulated spills, which covered a range of sizes (oil:water ratio) representative of the upper 25% of onshore crude oil spills in North America (2008–2019), to assess the fate of dilbit-derived hydrocarbons and metals as well as the impacts of the spills on standard water quality parameters. The systems were monitored over 70 days following the application of dilbit amounts ranging between 1.5 and 179.8 L into 10-m diameter, ~100 m3 limnocorrals. The concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in the water column increased rapidly over the first two weeks reaching a plateau that ranged between 200 μg/L and 2200 μg/L for the lowest and highest treatment respectively. The concentration of total polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) also increased over the first two weeks, prior to a slow decrease until day 70. The maximum measured concentrations in the highest treatment were 2858 ng/L for the sum of all 46 quantified PACs, 2716 ng/L for alkylated PACs and 154 ng/L for the 16 EPA priority PAHs. The concentrations of PACs in the sediment increased continuously over the study in the three highest treatments with maximum observed concentrations of 189 ng/g for ΣPAC46, 169 ng/g for ΣPACalk. No significant treatment-related changes in the 16 EPA priority PAHs were observed in the sediment. Of the 25 metals quantified in the water column, only manganese, molybdenum, and vanadium displayed a significant treatment effect with increases of 280, 76 and 25% respectively in the total fraction. These results can help us understand and predict the fate of oil-derived contaminants following a spill and characterize the exposure of freshwater organisms living within them. These results should help inform the risk assessment of future dilbit transportation projects.

Fair weather forecasting? The shortcomings of big data for sustainable development, a case study from Hubballi‐Dharwad, India

AbstractSustainable urban mobility is an essential component of sustainable development but requires careful planning in rapidly growing urban areas. This paper investigates the value and limitations of Big Data for evaluating transport policies, plans, and projects in Hubballi‐Dharwad, India. Results show how Big Data can enable the outcomes of transport interventions to be evaluated more readily than conventional transport analysis. However, the analysis also found that this data may be less able to detect the impacts of travel behaviours in informal settlements, and the impact of extreme weather events. These potential shortcomings, as well as a lack of transparency around the methodology and data sources used by sources of Big Data, could generate unintended consequences and biases in transport planning. Reflecting on these challenges, and the wider implications for urban governance, we conclude that there is an urgent need for Big Data and other technical advances in urban modelling to be seen as compliments to, rather than substitutes for, wider methods of knowledge generation in urban areas.

Governance of Public–private partnerships in transportation infrastructure projects based on Thailand’s experiences

Public–private partnership (PPP) has been extensively applied in transportation infrastructure projects. The specific characteristics of PPP projects cause the allocation of risks and benefits among the public and private sectors, and in practice, multiple decision making processes based on public interest resulting governance problems. The need for private investment in transportation infrastructure projects urges governments to apply good governance practices to attract private investment. The purpose of this study is to examine PPP governance problems and applied practices so as to investigate the governance improvement of PPP transportation projects in Thailand. The findings represent the governance problems and practices applied in PPP transportation projects in Thailand. The discussion of the findings, in relation to the international PPP governance practices, reveals the gaps for further governance improvement in terms of policy, regulation, institution, and stakeholder. This study extends the investigation of PPP problems in transportation project implementation through the lens of governance little shown in previous studies. It contributes to government and local government a more in-depth understanding of governance problems and good practices to better govern the PPP transportation projects to achieve the project goals.

Participant-governed networks as catalysts for sustainable transport and tourism infrastructure: the Northern Rivers Rail Trail, Australia

ABSTRACT Converting disused railway corridors into multi-purpose spaces to achieve strategic sustainable mobility, leisure, and/or tourism objectives is an increasingly prevalent public policy issue. Previous literature suggests it is often bottom-up processes driven by networks of community-level actors that generate community support and political will to operationalise rail trail visions, though a lack of understanding of such ‘bottom-up’ advocacy processes exists. This study adopted the concept of participant-governed networks to explore the structure and function of a grassroots, community-based network which secured political support and financial commitment for a regional transport and tourism project encompassing construction of a rail trail in northern New South Wales, Australia. Our analysis shows this network comprised an intuitive core–periphery structure of community-minded actors who contributed an eclectic range of resources to consolidate broader political and community networks to advance the rail trail vision.

Socio-cultural and Economic Impacts of BRT Peshawar

Huge transportation projects can affect inhabitants i.e. People living nearby the construction or have businesses along the route. During the previous decade the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been working to develop an institutional framework for urban renewal especially focusing the city of Peshawarbecause Peshawar is the biggest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand had a major problem of transport and eventually the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa came up with a solution in the form of BRT (Bus rapid transit system) and started working on it immediately at 20thOctober, 2017. While starting work on the project the Socio-cultural and economic impacts were ignored while preparing the feasibility report for BRT Peshawar. Also, the impacts during the construction time were not taken into consideration. In this study we wanted to identify the socio-cultural and economic impacts of BRT Peshawar both During the construction time and after BRT got operational.Impact identification was the most important task to initiate the study. So, after studying relevant literature the impacts were identified and structured questionnaire was prepared for further research. This questionnaire was tested by conducting a Pilot Survey and reliability analysis of the responses using SPSS which helped us in finalizing the questionnaire. Stratified sampling technique was used for distribution of questionnaires and a sample size of 385 was taken. The questionnaires were distributed according to the length of the corridor sections and we got our results from this survey. After this when the project started, we conducted another survey and got our results. It was found that the commute time was increased because of congestions caused by the huge construction of BRT. While on the other hand those who had relatives on the opposite side of the fence, their meeting frequency decreased. Also, it was found that Pedestrian Roadcrossing and Vehicular U-turns became difficult. The Privacy of the inhabitants was not disturbed due to the flyovers and the health was impacted badly. Overall BRT projects always have more positive impacts than negative impacts while during construction the impacts can be minimized if we identify them before starting the project.

Market-Segmentation Study of Future and Potential Users of the New Réseau Express Métropolitain Light Rail in Montreal, Canada

Goals for public transit agencies and new public transport infrastructure projects include attracting new riders and retaining existing system users. An understanding of the public transport market and its preferences, habits, and attitudes can help public transit agencies reach these goals by shedding light on how to increase customer satisfaction. To understand potential users of one of Montreal’s most recent major transport projects, the Réseau express métropolitain (REM), we conducted a survey in Fall 2019 while the light-rail system was under construction. Drawing on vetted transport market-segmentation frameworks, this study employs an exploratory factor analysis to reveal factors that affect respondents’ propensity to use the REM. A k-means cluster test is applied to the factors to articulate market segments. The analysis returned four clusters that form a clear spectrum of least likely to most likely REM users: car-friendly non-users, urban core potential users, transit-friendly users, and leisure and airport users. Positive opinion, proximity, and desire to use the REM for leisure or non-work trips are three key characteristics of likely users. There is a visible relationship between clusters who are likely to use the REM and clusters who agree that the REM will benefit their neighborhood. Improving people’s perception of the potential benefit of the REM to their neighborhood, better accommodating leisure use, emphasizing and communicating appealing destinations, and highlighting transit connections are four core ways that planners could work to potentially increase the number of people who are likely to use the REM.

Valuing changes in wellbeing and its relevance for transport policy

There is growing transport policy interest in identifying how governmental interventions may affect wellbeing. However, research on transport-wellbeing connections does not extend to monetization of wellbeing benefits, to enable alignment with economic values used in transport cost-benefit analysis. Such monetization could support improved transport policy and project sustainability analysis, involving economic, social and/or environmental trade-offs. This paper estimates separate monetary values for changes in subjective, affective and meaning centred (eudaimonic) wellbeing and examines their association with social exclusion. It also includes associated monetization of trip making, changes in social capital and in sense of community. The monetary values estimated in the paper all increase as household income declines. They support a transport policy and project appraisal focus that extends benefit/cost valuation beyond what is included in traditional transport economic cost-benefit analysis, helping to close a major gap in current appraisal methodology. Understanding the value of improving wellbeing highlights the opportunities to assist those at most risk of mobility-related social exclusion by taking more integrated approaches to transport planning and policy making.

Evaluating the Impact Index of Key Barriers to Public-Private Partnership Transportation Projects in Vietnam: Comparison between Selected Asian Countries

Abstract In the Asian region, the financial burden for the development of transportation infrastructure is always a huge challenge for the government. Therefore, private investment was encouraged t...