Impacts of increased rail infrastructure charges in Sweden

The impacts of the already decided increase in rail infrastructure charges in Sweden are described for various market segments within the rail transport system and on the aggregate level for society as a whole. The need for complementary measures in the road transport system is also discussed. Likewise, the paper also mentions the impact of increased rail infrastructure charges on certain significant industrial sectors. An increase in rail charges may reduce social welfare even though the reduction in rail transport mileage is small. This is mainly due to large non-internalised absolute externalities for road freight. For commuter trains, the infrastructure charges' share of the costs of rail transport is expected to rise to 13 percent, which in an international perspective still will be small.     

Changes in the external costs of freight surface transport In Spain

This paper studies the external costs of surface freight transport in Spain and finds that a reduction occurred over the past15 years. The analysis yields two conclusions: trucks have experienced a reduction in external costs, and rail has lower externalities. The external costs of road freight transport decrease between 1993 and 2007 (44%). The external costs of rail freight increase by 12%. During this period, the external costs of road freight related to climate increase by 16%, oppositely than those from air pollution and accidents (51 and 44%). The external costs of rail related to pollutant emissions and climate increase by 4% and 43%. Oppositely, the external costs related to accidents decrease by 27%. Road freight generates eight times the external costs of rail, 2.35 Euro cents per tonne kilometre in 2005 (5.6% accidents, 74.7% air pollution and 19.7% climate) vs. 0.28 (13.4% accidents, 53.9% air pollution and 32.7% climate).     

轨道交通车辆段综合开发的交通规划策略探讨

分析了轨道交通车辆段综合开发原则、模式特点及交通规划存在的诸多难题,基于“高效安全、绿色低碳”交通理念,提出多种模式的道路网络衔接与2层次的公共交通衔接策略,指导了广州市多条轨道交通线车辆段综合开发项目的交通规划和建设。     

Panama Canal expansion: alleviating global climate change

This paper quantifies likely changes in greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to anthropogenic climate change, resulting from the expansion of the Panama Canal and the consequent increase in ship-borne commercial transportation from east Asia to the US east coast. Ocean transportation offers higher fuel economy and lower pollutant emissions compared with land transport. Additionally, truck and train transportation of cargo along the US land bridge threatens to overwhelm existing highway and rail systems and limit economic growth. The alternate transportation route for easterly transit of the Panama Canal will reduce overland traffic congestion and enhance economic development by maintaining freight flow efficiency.     

Return lead–lag and volatility transmission in shipping freight markets

This study investigates the return lead–lag and volatility transmission between dry bulk shipping and container shipping freight markets over the period before, during and after the 2008 financial tsunami. Both cointegration analysis and the Granger causality test are applied to explore the lead–lag relationship between the Baltic dry index (BDI) and the China containerized freight index (CCFI). Besides, in the study we employed GARCH–BEKK model, which allows for transmission in freight volatility. On the whole, the empirical results show that the BDI reflects the economic climate earlier than the CCFI during the financial tsunami, whereas the CCFI leads the BDI after the financial tsunami. The price formation hypothesis could well explain the relationship. Moreover, volatility spillovers are found in most subperiods. The dynamics of the conditional volatilities differ, but causality links in the variance are found to be strong and bidirectional in normal periods, and unidirectional during the financial tsunami. Therefore, the occurrence of the financial tsunami could be regarded as an interference factor.     

Incentives to reduce port inefficiency: a theoretical approach

Over the last decades, the European Union (EU) has devoted a large amount of effort and money to projects aimed at boosting some of its maritime corridors as a modal alternative to road or rail freight transport. However, the overall design of most of these programmes has ex post revealed as very ineffective. This paper suggests that promoting port efficiency might be a more suitable target to increase the modal split of Short Sea Shipping (SSS) than subsidizing firms to transfer cargo from road to sea. But defining ‘port efficiency’ is a complex task and, therefore, granting money directly to port authorities could also generate perverse moral hazard effects, particularly when the improvements are difficult to monitor and many investments are non-refundable. The European Court of Auditors points out that millions of EU public port finance was wasted on empty terminal and other unused infrastructure. The objective of this paper is to design a proper subsidy to promote SSS by encouraging port improvements through a proper system of incentives. As a policy recommendation, in this paper we propose the development of a subsidy per inefficiency-reduction unit.     

新型交通工具在交通运输中的应用进展和展望

为了应对快速城镇化发展中的城市交通问题,城市新型交通工具发展迅速。文中综述了国内外11种新型交通工具的关键技术和特性,包括城市轨道交通、地面交通及航空交通,考察新型交通工具在公路、铁路、航空等不同模式下的具体应用,并从资源环境约束、技术经济性能、系统服务性能、产业发展潜力等方面讨论新型交通工具的发展态势。提出多模式一体化综合交通系统发展的关键特征在于共享、畅达、绿色、公平。     

Impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative in the Indian subcontinent under future port development scenarios

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is twofold: the first is to assess the extent to which current port development initiatives contribute to securing the status of the Port of Colombo as a regional transshipment (T/S) hub to serve the Indian subcontinent; and the second is to generate plausible future development scenarios for the maritime industry in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A scenario analysis method is applied to examine the past trends and to build future development scenarios. The results showed that major Indian ports have experienced a significant growth in cargo volumes and vessel traffic. South and East Indian coastal ports continue to use the Port of Colombo as a T/S port in tandem with the corridors connected to the Indian Ocean. Scenario analysis highlights the growing importance of BRI-centric land-based economic corridors, which would generate a large amount of cargos from hinterlands up to China. This would be further fueled through the Great Mekong region-driven industrialization, which would add to the west-bound maritime cargo volume. The paper concludes that the increased capital influx from China would more likely to result in a substantial development of the present port and road/rail infrastructure in Sri Lanka.     

How much can public private partnership really do for urban transport in developing countries?

A few cities in some of the larger developing countries in Latin America and Asia have made increasing use of multi-year concessions or franchises, competitively awarded to private companies, for construction and operation of urban transport infrastructure and for provision of public transport services. In view of the strong prospective growth of developing-country cities with large transport needs, and the rise in the emerging economies of potential new sources of private capital, it is important to see how effective PPP has so far been in this area. The experience is analyzed principally by thorough comparative review of what has actually happened for some of the main users to date: Bogotá, Santiago, São Paulo, Seoul, and several cities in both China and India. Despite delays and mistakes that have been made in development of most of the projects, the overall results, already delivered and in prospect, are very positive and urban public transport is benefiting substantially, with significant side effects on poorer people's access to work and to services, air pollution levels and road accident rates. The widest and most important advantage of the PPP arrangements, as compared with more conventional short-term contracting, is found to be the innovations, technical and managerial, developed, and, in particular, the mutual capacity building of the countries' private and public sectors and their more effective interaction. The experience in the six countries covered suggests that other developing-country cities may be best assisted to develop sound urban transport PPPs more rapidly through provision of help on chosen items among 7 elements that have proved particularly crucial but sometimes weak in the projects reviewed: Civic consultation systems, Land-use/Transport strategic planning, Land/property market management, Monitoring systems, Progressive policies, Economic regulation, and Public institutional framework for PPPs.     

Short-sea shipping potentials in Central America to bridge infrastructural gaps

This paper addresses the situation of transport infrastructure in Central America, which poses issues of insufficiency, high-costs and lack of an integrated vision in a geographic region that is exposed to vulnerabilities due to its geological, geomorphologic and climatic conditions. The major efforts for regional integration with joint infrastructure in place seem to meet the criteria of high prioritization on ground transport and non-diversification of risk. This paper features the characteristics of the area and the potentiality of short-sea shipping to cover infrastructure deficits and the need for a more integrated planning of transport infrastructure services with better conditions to improve the regional economy competitiveness and the economic growth.     

Short-sea shipping potentials in Central America to bridge infrastructural gaps

This paper addresses the situation of transport infrastructure in Central America, which poses issues of insufficiency, high-costs and lack of an integrated vision in a geographic region that is exposed to vulnerabilities due to its geological, geomorphologic and climatic conditions. The major efforts for regional integration with joint infrastructure in place seem to meet the criteria of high prioritization on ground transport and non-diversification of risk. This paper features the characteristics of the area and the potentiality of short-sea shipping to cover infrastructure deficits and the need for a more integrated planning of transport infrastructure services with better conditions to improve the regional economy competitiveness and the economic growth.     

Economic impact of non-motorized transportation in Indian cities

Lack of a clear understanding regarding the economic impacts of non-motorized modes is a major reason why they are excluded from the transportation development agenda of cities in India. Keeping this aspect in mind the present study has been divided in to two parts. The first part tries to understand the non-motorized traffic evolution in India. It focuses on the declination of non-motorized modes, necessity to revamp it, the favorable conditions to promote them in India and the relative problems associated with it. It is found here that there is a necessity for defining the role of non-motorized modes in India for the viable implementation of infrastructure and policies related with it.     

桂林市综合运输服务体系研究

桂林市以区域交通枢纽为发展定位、建设国际旅游胜地为发展战略,未来将带来客货运量的稳步增长。针对由此对综合客货枢纽场站设施、运输服务所提出的更高需求,立足于桂林市经济社会发展和旅游城市特色,从综合客运枢纽、货物集疏运中心、运输服务信息共享、运输组织模式、运输服务工作机制、运输服务标准规范等方面进行系统研究,通过推进区域综合运输协同、城市内外交通协同、城乡客货运输协同,构建与桂林城市发展相适应的“衔接顺畅、服务优质、支撑有力、管理规范”的综合运输服务体系。     

Current publications

Despite the European Union (EU) efforts promoting policies that encourage short sea shipping (SSS) based on its advantages in terms of intermodality and environment, this mode has not yet reached a significant market share compared to land transport. In this paper, we establish a thesis that suggests that funding programs (such as Marco Polo I and II) have not properly offered the right incentives to promote SSS, and aspects such as the key role of port infrastructure and its characteristics, have not been taken into consideration. In a departure from traditional transport cost models, to prove our thesis, we use a theoretical intermodal competition model to compare alternative modes—road transport vs. SSS. We reach the conclusion that the EU needs to focus on ports and transport system efficiency as a whole in order to compete effectively in the freight transport market.     

Rail infrastructure,ITS and access charges

This paper presents an overview of the principles and technologies relating to railway infrastructure. Specifically this paper includes rail–wheel contact, inspection and maintenance of rail. Intelligent transport systems (ITS) and their applications for the purposes of the railway transport in Europe are discussed. The potential, levels of development, technological and operational characteristics of the European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) are presented. Finally, a discussion on methodologies, principles and current practices for access charging in Europe is provided.     

Federal ports policy

In contrast to the centralized port-planning framework that is utilized in some industrialized countries, the US relies on a complex and fragmented framework in which responsibility for the planning, development and operation of landside maritime infrastructure rests with State and local governments. It has been argued that the separation of the federal government from port policy was rooted in the port preference clause of the Constitution. This paper is an effort to determine whether the current decentralized port policy in fact stems from the Constitution and, to that end, reviews how over the years the US Supreme Court has construed the port preference clause in the Constitution. It was found that there is no evidence to support the assertion that the port preference clause has restricted the development of Federal port policy. Moreover, the decentralized and fragmented decision-making process that is evident today does not imply the absence of federal impact. Rather, it reflects federal involvement through multiple agencies and regulatory processes and is a conscious effort, consistent with other areas of transport infrastructure development, to retain local decision-making for infrastructure investments. It is concluded by raising the issue whether current federal involvement in ports (that is, existing federal port policy), through dredging, landside transportation improvements or subsidized capital, among other things, needs to be reappraised before a new round of capital intensive investment begins.     

The external cost of speed at sea: An analysis based on selected short sea shipping routes

According to the mid-term review of the EU White Paper on Transport, Short Sea Shipping (SSS) is expected to grow at a rate of 59% (metric tonnes) between 2000 and 2020. If we consider that the overall expected increase in both freight exchanges and volume is 50%, sea transport is one of the most feasible alternatives to reduce traffic congestion on European roads. Maritime transportation may compete with road transport as far as certain traffics are concerned, but only when assuming external costs. This paper analyzes several intermodal transport chains involving a sea leg by comparing the effect of pollutant emissions from different ship types and road transport in terms of potential external cost savings. The translation of these emissions into environmental costs shows, for certain conditions, savings in the case of sea transport that would justify the use of an environmental bonus to promote the sea option.     

Rail and multi-modal transport

This paper elaborates on the definitions of inter and multi-modal transport, as well as their differences in terms of performance. A survey of the barriers, both internal and external, to an efficient intermodal transport is included followed by an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of combining rail transport with the other transport modes. Transhipment technologies for efficient freight service and some examples of freight rail corridors between sea and inland terminals are presented. The integration between air and rail transport is discussed and the potential synergies between air and high-speed rail services are emphasised. The paper concludes with a discussion on energy use for sustainable rail performance.     

Measuring the welfare effects of infrastructure: A simple spatial equilibrium evaluation of Dutch railway proposals

We specify a spatial computable general equilibrium model for the Netherlands based on the so-called New Economic Geography. The model distinguishes 14 sectors, two modes of transportation and over 500 municipalities. Key parameters are estimated by fitting predicted interregional trade flows to bi-regional input-output data. The model is then calibrated to a baseline scenario for 2020. From there, the transport grid is modified in line with six proposals for changes in rail infrastructure. The effects of these changes on employment and welfare are computed. We find that the most ambitious project leads to a redistribution of around 8000 jobs from regions further out to regions along the line and especially at the end of it. The net national welfare effect is equivalent to a 250 million euro (0.016%) increase in GDP.     

Ports and shipping in Mozambique: current concerns and policy options

This paper explores the current state of ports and shipping in Mozambique, and reviews it in the context of a past history of civil war followed by radical macro-economic adjustment, and more recent concerns and debates around the deregulation and privatization of the transport industry. More specifically, it addresses the key issue of the relationship between shipping and both broader and local economic development, taking account of the needs of major industry and the need to sustain local livelihoods. It reveals that the situation in Mozambique is a product of both local and global pressures, moulded by economic and political forces. It further indicates that, while there are now positive opportunities for coastal shipping, the capacity for developing inland shipping appears to be very limited. Future growth consequently depends on local participation, training and skills development and the broader social, economic, and transport infrastructure.