Evaluation of Rail Freight Facilities Grant Funding in Britain

Abstract

Rail freight has been generally in decline in many European Union countries in recent years, contrary to European transport policy. State support for railway operations is commonplace in most countries, and this paper establishes the background to targeted rail freight grant funding in Britain. Through desk‐based analysis of Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) awards, together with a survey of recipient companies, the paper assesses the extent to which the planned flows expected from these awards have materialized and it evaluates the role of the grants in influencing rail freight volumes. The evidence suggests that FFG funding has been largely successful, attracting considerable private sector investment. Overall, FFGs have played an important role in developing or retaining rail freight flows, although the processes could be made more transparent and consistent. As other European countries liberalize their rail freight markets as a result of European Union legislation, such targeted funding may be an appropriate alternative to more general government subsidy of freight operations.     

Evaluation of road-rail interaction in Thailand

The main line of the State Railway of Thailand to serve the Northeastern region of the Kingdom was built in 1900 to the town of Korat and subsequently extended to its northern extremity at the Laos border. The Friendship Highway, a modern highway parallel to the railway and serving the same transportation corridor, was completed in 1958 as far as Korat. In 1965 the northern extension of the Friendship Highway was opened to Nong Khai, the northern terminus of the railway.The effect of the nearby and parallel highway on freight traffic - for upland crops, vegetables, rice, kenaf, and forest products - is shown in terms of tonnages dispatched by the railway and in relation to the production of those commodities. Passenger traffic originating on the Northeastern railway line is analysed. Statistics indicating the shift in modal split between road and rail, for both freight and passengers in the Kingdom, are presented for a six-year period. An estimate of the loss in revenue for the Korat-Nong Khai segment of the railway has been made for both originating passengers and certain classes of freight traffic. Clearly demonstrated is the unceasing trend toward road haulage of freight and the use of highway buses by intercity passengers. This paper is intended to draw attention to the magnitude of the problem rather than to suggest definitive solutions.     

Decoupling of Road Freight Transport and Economic Growth Trends in the UK: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

Between 1997 and 2004, gross domestic product increased in real terms in the UK by one‐fifth, while the volume of road freight movement remained stable. This suggests that the long‐awaited decoupling of economic and freight transport growth has begun, possibly leading to a new era of sustainable logistics. This paper reviews previous research on the decoupling issue and recent trends in gross domestic product/freight tonne‐km elasticities in Europe and the USA. It then examines 12 possible causes of the observed decoupling in the UK using published statistics from a wide range of British and European sources. This analysis indicates that around two‐thirds of the decoupling is due to three factors whose impact can be quantified: the increased penetration of the British road haulage market by foreign operators, a decline in road transport’s share of the freight market, and real increases in road freight rates. Several other factors, most notably the relative growth of the service sector, the diminishing rate of centralization, and the off‐shoring of manufacturing, appear to be having a significant effect, though this finding cannot be measured on the basis of available statistics. The paper concludes that, while the decoupling is in the right direction from a public policy standpoint, the net environmental benefits are likely to be quite modest.     

The Benefits for Rail Freight Customers of Vertical Separation and Open Access

Abstract

This paper reviews and analyses the benefits for rail freight customers of the two principal models for introducing competition in main line railway networks: (1) the vertical separation of infrastructure from operations; and (2) the introduction of competition providing other operators with open access to the network. The paper shows that traffic growth has generally been higher in those European countries that have liberalized most. It then examines in detail the impact of restructuring in Great Britain in terms of the competition, freight rates and traffic growth. The paper concludes that vertical separation benefits freight customers more than just open access.     

铁路运输企业视角下的公、铁运输企业短期博弈分析

在"一带一路"战略背景下,铁路物流中心的公铁联运业务至关重要。公铁联运业务各主体的协同存在易变性,资源双方是否信任会影响各自的策略选择。本文以铁路运输企业为主导,铁路运输企业接到客户公铁联运订单时会借助平台发布公路运输需求信息,公路运输企业根据自身情况向铁路运输企业表达意愿,最后铁路运输企业根据其采取的策略找到自身是否接受合作的均衡条件。本文通过对公、铁运输企业的短期博弈分析,找到双方合作的均衡条件,为双方利益分配奠定基础。     

Transport bottlenecks and Tanzania's economic problems

Abstract

The paper discusses Tanzania's transport problems in the context of the prevailing acute economic crisis. It looks at the development of the transport system, especially the rail and road network, from the German days to the new Chinese‐built Tanzania‐Zambia Railway. The East‐West orientation of the major parallel rail lines and roads reflects the dependency of the economy on export‐import trade. A major challenge to the transport system is the haulage of agricultural products, mainly for export but also for the internal market, not to mention the haulage of imported commodities.

The provision and utilization of transport services is discussed in the context of the historical, and institutional setting of the road haulage industry, particularly its public and private sector configurations. Due to scarcity of foreign exchange, both sectors, especially the private, are starved of vehicles and spare parts.

The operation of ocean and lake shipping services and Air Tanzania are discussed. It is recommended that the latter should concentrate on essential domestic services plus some limited regional services. External financing of transport projects and its implications are also considered.

It is concluded that despite the break‐up of the East African transport system, the Tanzanian transport system, although shaky, has avoided major breakdowns and in some cases, especially in trade, has provided the foundation for at least medium‐term improvements. More attention is recommended to organizational problems of track use by freight and passenger carriers and to making the best use of existing facilities.     

A Stated preference freight mode choice model

Transport policy aims to assist the transport system to work more efficiently and effectively. An understanding of the reasons why people choose to move freight in a certain manner is critical to the development of appropriate policies. This article outlines a data collection approach and the development of a disaggregate mode choice model applicable to the analysis of freight shipper decision making. It focuses on the choice between rail and road in Java, Indonesia. The model indicates that safety, reliability and responsiveness are major attributes influencing rail/road freight mode choice. Transport policies aimed at improving these dimensions should increase the attractiveness of rail transport.     

Rail freight efficiency and competitiveness in Australia

In 1994/95, the Australian rail freight task was approximately 100 billion tonne kilometres (btkm). This freight task included some 37 btkm for the haulage of iron ore in Western Australia, 28 btkm for coal haulage in Queensland and New South Wales and about 16 btkm for interstate rail freight. This paper mainly concerns how improvements can be made to the efficiency and competitiveness of interstate rail freight services through the upgrading of sections of mainline track that currently have severe speed‐weight restrictions. Recent improvements in rail freight efficiency are discussed, with emphasis on two indicators: average unit revenues (cents per net tonne km), and average energy efficiency (net tonne km per MJ). Rail freight efficiency is high for the Western Australia iron‐ore operations, Queensland coal operations and Adelaide‐Perth general freight operations. However, between Australia's three largest cities of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, some 36% of the mainline track fails to meet basic fast freight train standards with a ruling grade of 1 in 66 and no curve radius less than 800 m. The contraints on efficient rail freight operations imposed by severe terrain, and how the effects of terrain may be reduced by improved track alignment, are discussed. Some economically warranted rail track investment measures are outlined, including those identified for a National Transport Planning Taskforce. These measures have the potential to reduce liquid fuel use by over 250 million litres a year. Factors affecting competitive neutrality between road and rail freight that are outside of the present scope of Australia's National Competition Policy are broadly considered. These factors include the extensive upgrading of the National Highway System with full Federal funding, and low levels of road cost recovery from heavy trucks operating over long distances.     

Container Railfreight Services in North‐west Europe: Diversity of Organizational Forms in a Liberalizing Environment

Abstract

The institutional environment of rail transport has changed as a result of recent European directives, but the changes have taken different forms from one country to another. In the case of international maritime chains, the development of door‐to‐door services makes inland haulage from the loading and discharging ports extremely important, and it highlights the need to reshape the rail freight industry. This paper analyses the degree of involvement of different actors drawn from the maritime industry in developing and commercializing rail services in the changing regulatory environment. Several maritime operators, shipping lines, port‐handling companies and port authorities have been involved in some container rail services since the early days of liberalization. Their commitments take very different forms, however. Whereas contracts are mainly used for the provision of service, particularly for train haulage, integration by means of shareholding or creating subsidiaries or joint ventures is used for marketing. Important differences between France, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands are detailed. In the latter two countries, there is more involvement in the provision of rail services. Marketing rail services appear to be the main strategic issue for the maritime operators in all four countries     

An assessment of the performance of the European long intermodal freight trains (LIFTS)

Intermodal rail/road freight transport has always been considered as a competitive alternative to its road freight counterpart in the European medium- to long-distance corridors (markets). Such consideration has been based on the increasing competitiveness of some innovative rail services and the existing and prospective performance of both modes in terms of the full social – internal or operational and external – costs. The most recent innovation of rail technologies and related services launched by some European railway companies, still at the conceptual level, is the Long Intermodal Freight Train (LIFT). This is supposed to be a block train operating in long-distance corridors (markets) with a substantial and regular freight demand.This paper develops analytical models for assessing the performance of the LIFTs, the already-operating Conventional Intermodal Freight Trains (CIFTs), and their road counterpart as well. The performance consists of the full – internal (private) and external – costs of the door-to-door delivery of loading units – containers, swap-bodies, and semi-trailers. The internal costs embrace the operational costs of the transport (rail and road) and intermodal terminal operators. The external costs include the costs of the impacts of door-to-door delivery of loading units on society and the environment. These negative externalities include noise, air pollution, traffic accidents, and congestion.The models are applied to a simplified version of intermodal and road transport system using inputs from the European freight transport sector. The aims are to compare the full costs of particular modalities in order to investigate the potential of the LIFTs as compared with the CIFTs in improving the internal efficiency of the rail freight sector and its competitiveness with respect to its road counterpart. In addition, the paper attempts to assess some effects on the potential modal shift of EU (European Union) transport policies on internalizing transport externalities.     

Positive impact of distribution centres on the environment

The transport sector in general, and trucks in particular, generates a significant amount of emissions in Australia. It appears the trend will escalate unless different measures are taken to reduce the reliance of freight transport on trucks. This paper discusses the benefits of distribution centres as a means to reduce road congestion, increase safety, protect the environment by reducing atmospheric pollution and improve freight distribution. It also provides the effective use of the existing rail network and its infrastructure and improves the lead-time as well as lowering the cost of transportation of cargo. It also investigates the positive impact of distribution centres located near to manufacturing and farming production units. A simulation model has been developed and used to help determine the amount of atmospheric pollution produced by two modes of land transport, rail and road, for the movement of containers between port and destination. Results derived from the model provide evidence about a preferred land-transport regime. The paper has two sections: (1) the role of distribution centres in the chain of transport and (2) the impact of distribution centres on the environment. The first section investigates the feasibility of the implementation of distribution centres in the State of Victoria with respect to rail line capacity and location allocation. The second section presents an additional simulation model that investigates the role of a distribution centre in relation to the amount of atmospheric pollution produced by rail and road, while containers are carried between port and destination.     

Comparison of road freight transport trends in Europe. Coupling and decoupling factors from an Input–Output structural decomposition analysis

Decoupling road freight transport from economic growth has been acknowledged by the European Union as a key means to improving sustainability. It is therefore important to identify both the coupling and decoupling drivers of road freight transport demand in order to determine possible factors that may contribute to reduce road transport in the future without curbing economic development. This research proposes an Input–Output (IO) structural decomposition analysis (SDA) to explain road freight transport in terms of a set of key factors that have strongly influenced road freight demand in recent decades in European countries—such as economic growth, economic structure and the evolution of road transport intensity (including improvements in both supply and transport systems). This methodological approach allows us to quantify and compare their contribution in different European countries to either increase or decrease road freight transport demand. The empirical basis for this analysis is a dataset of nine European countries which have IO tables and road transport data available from 2000 to 2007, comprising data on domestic production, imports and exports as well as tonne-kms for 11 types of commodity classes. The results show that, as a whole, aggregate road transport demand has grown—driven mainly by economic activity—but this growth has been strongly curbed in some countries by changes in road freight transport intensity and moderately by the dematerialization of the economy. International transport has been also proven to be a key factor driving road freight transport volumes. Moreover, the increased penetration of foreign operators in national haulage markets appears to have reinforced the final decoupling levels observed in some cases.     

A cost and CO2 comparison of using trains and higher capacity trucks when UK FMCG companies collaborate

Companies working in a collaboration are able to achieve higher vehicle capacity utilisation and reduced empty running, resulting in lower costs and improved sustainability through reduced emissions and congestion. Collaboration produces higher volumes of goods to be moved than individual companies which means that further efficiencies may be possible by relaxing the freight mode constraints and considering rail and higher capacity vehicles. This paper explains how real world data has been used in a model to quantify the economic and environmental benefits in the FMCG sector delivered through collaboration utilising road and rail freight modes. Data for one month was provided by 10 FMCG companies and included freight transport flows between depots and customers, inter depot movements, and supplier collections. Detailed road and rail costs and operating characteristics were obtained and, with the transport flows, applied to a network design model which was used to validate the company data sets. A strategy examining the potential use of alternative higher capacity vehicles and rail for the flows between nine regional consolidation centres showed cost and CO₂ savings. Just under half the inter-regional flows benefited from double deck trailers, longer heavier vehicles for 30% of the flows and rail with different wagon configurations for the rest. In summary there was a 23% reduction in cost with 58% fewer road kilometres and a 46% reduction in CO₂ emissions. The ability to backhaul the same mode of transport between most of the regional centres was one of the strengths of this strategy.     

Public financing of private freight rail infrastructure to reduce highway congestion: A case study of public policy and decision making in the United States

As goods movement continues to increase it is expected to outpace infrastructure capacity in the United States. Moving a larger share of goods by rail rather than truck is a potentially cost effective part of a solution. Freight rail not only offers a substitute for truck trips but is a cleaner, more energy efficient, and safer alternative. Recently a number of private freight rail projects have received public funding. The public funds are aimed at increasing freight rail capacity with the goal of diverting some goods currently moved by truck to rail. While the benefits of moving goods by rail are relatively clear, it is unclear if public decision makers can effectively identify strategic rail investments that will achieve their policy goals. This study critically examines the analytical methods, models, and data that are commonly used to support decisions to provide public funds for private freight rail projects. This is accomplished through a case study of California’s Trade Corridors Improvement Fund program which provided $680 million for 11 freight rail projects. The study’s contributions include identifying critical analytical flaws and challenges affecting the benefit estimates that public funding decisions rely on. Improvements to current evaluation methods are also identified as are regulatory reforms and policy interventions that may offer more effective and reliable outcomes.     

Harmonizing heavy goods vehicle taxes in Europe: a British view

One of the biggest unresolved problems regarding the completion of the free internal transport market within the European community is the problem of harmonization of taxation on the road haulage industry. As the highest tax country, Britain might be expected to have to reduce its level of taxes as part of any harmonization.

This paper considers the current methodology of the British Department of Transport regarding the allocation of the track and external costs of road transport, in the light of developments in methodology and experience elsewhere in Western Europe and North America. We find a number of reasons for believing that, far from overstating the marginal social cost of use of roads by the road haulage industry, the current British approach actually understates it. Thus any move towards harmonizing tax levels may reduce taxes in Britain at a time when they should be increasing.     

Deregulation in Polish Rail Transport

Abstract

A phenomenon new to the Polish situation—the deregulation of rail transport—is presented. Despite its primarily legal nature, deregulation also implies various economic, socio‐political and spatial consequences. The relatively short period over which partial deregulation of public transport in Poland has been in effect (i.e. since 2000) ensures that the issue has not been taken up by Polish geographers as a research field. However, it has been of interest to Polish economists. Deregulation is a phenomenon of primary importance, with direct implications for the character, quality, type, intensity and spatial differentiation of transport (including freight and passenger traffic) within the market economy. This paper, therefore, presents the impact of the recent changes in the legal system (as regards deregulation) on the current pattern of railway connections of the major carriers. As the majority of these originate beyond the Polskie Koleje Państwowe (Polish State Railways) Group, they can be said to be independent of the main former state carrier.     

Deregulating the bus industry in Britain — (A) the proposals

Abstract

Over the past five years there has been an unprecedented stream of transport legislation in Britain, and policy has switched significantly towards the provision of services commensurate with market demand. The most important single document has been the recent publication of the White Paper on ‘Buses’ which could bring about dramatic changes in the road passenger transport industry. This introductory section outlines the arguments for and against change and then summarizes the proposals.     

Investigating the market for inter-modal freight technologies

Freight carried by rail has traditionally been mainly low value bulk commodities. The market for transport of such commodities appears at best static and is forming a smaller proportion of the total demand for freight transport. There is thus an urgent need for rail operators to develop practical and cost effective inter-modal systems, which offer high quality services to consignors of consumer goods whose premises are not usually connected to the rail network. Much long-haul traffic of this type is international. In continental Europe, a number of inter-modal technologies—including swapbodies and piggyback—have long been in use. Development of similar technologies for use within the more constrained loading gauge of Great Britain, has received a great boost from the impending opening of the Channel Tunnel. The alternative technologies are discussed, before turning to ways of stimating the market for them. A large part of the paper is devoted to reporting on a computerised survey using our LASP (Leeds Adaptive Stated Preference) technique. The reason for using hypothetical Stated Preference data is the inadequate nature and extent of data on actual choice decisions, particularly in circumstances in which confidential freight rates are individually negotiated and little general merchandise goes by rail. By bringing together the results of this survey with information on costs and quality of service, the likely future market for inter-modal freight technologies is assessed. It is seen that the potential for inter-modal services within Britain is very limited, although there should be a good opportunity on the major corridor from London to Scotland through the West Midlands and the North West. When the Channel Tunnel is opened, however, the potential for services between Britain and continental Europe will be enormous, provided that an adequate quality of service can be offered.     

Migration of railway freight transport from command economy to market economy: The case of China

In recent years, Chinese railway freight transport has been facing great challenges from transport market reformation and economic expansion. Although the total volume of railway freight has been increasing, its market share has decreased greatly, especially at the beginning of migration from command economy to market economy. This paper considers four aspects believed to be responsible for the loss of the railway freight market share. First, we review the history and current situation of the Chinese railway freight transport and study the relationship between economic development and freight transport in China. Second, the causes resulting in the loss of the market share of railway freight are analysed in detail. Third, the current measures taken by Chinese Railways (CR) to restore its competitiveness are discussed. The effects of these measures on railway traffic volume, market share and productivity are also studied. Finally, the way forward for the future of CR is discussed. It is concluded that CR has not yet adapted sufficiently to new economic conditions, although in recent years progress has been made. Further reform will be needed.     

Evaluating the public investment mix in US freight transportation infrastructure

This research empirically evaluates the public sector investment in the US freight transportation infrastructure. In particular, the infrastructures to support the two most comparable modes of freight transportation – highway and intermodal rail – are examined as alternatives for public fund allocation. Indicators for public sector transportation infrastructure investment mix are established based on financial analysis of both private and social costs and benefits, as well as the propensity of freight shippers to utilize such infrastructures. The research results in recommendations for the aggregate allocation of public funds in the US based on these indicators. We find that approximately a quarter of truck freight could be handled at a 25% lower cost if rail infrastructure to support it existed. Because an additional 80% reduction in social costs could be achieved through this modal conversion, the public sector is a critical participant in creating a more efficient transportation infrastructure.