Exploring the effects of passenger rail franchising in Britain: Evidence from the first two rounds of franchising (1997-2008)

This paper provides an up-to-date review of the previous literature concerning the impact of passenger rail franchising on productivity and costs in Britain, and also presents important new evidence. In particular, the extension in time of previously-used datasets offers the first opportunity to study the impacts of re-franchising. The previous literature emphasised the failure of franchising to produce sustained productivity gains, with a sharp deterioration in productivity after 2000. The new evidence presented offers a somewhat more positive view of the British experience. It suggests that part of what was previously considered to be falling productivity may in fact be due to exogenous changes in diesel prices. Further, new data suggests that the recent increases in costs have resulted in higher quality of service. Finally, competitive re-franchising, and the associated unwinding of short-term management and re-negotiated contracts, seems to have led to improvements in productivity between 2006 and 2008. Nevertheless, it remains the case that passenger rail franchising in Britain has failed to reduce costs in the way experienced in many other industries and in rail in other European countries. The evidence is that somewhat larger franchises, avoiding overlapping and optimising train density and length, should reduce costs. We also speculate that the major increase in wages and conditions of staff might be moderated by longer franchises, although that remains to be proved. This re-appraisal of the British case is important in the context of the wider international interest in the use of franchising in passenger rail, and its relevance to the current review of ways of introducing competition into the domestic rail passenger market in Europe.     

Results so far and prospects of Kazakhstan passenger rail franchising

From 1991 till 2004 passenger rail transportation in Kazakhstan was organized by a public company without financial contribution from the state budget. As in any post-Soviet country losses from passenger sector in the integrated rail company were covered at the expense of the freight transportations. From 2005 the Government is trying to introduce competition in passenger rail industry by competitive tendering rights to operate on particular route and providing subsidies.This paper reviews the Kazakhstan passenger rail franchising policy from statement and implementation with analysis of results so far. To get sense about the current policy’s perception survey among managers of the government bodies and railway companies had been performed. It indicates respondents’ opinion about main concerns and suggestions for improvement in passenger rail industry. According to provided analysis there are opportunities for improvements in operation of public and private companies as well as in the Government policy.     

国际船市:逆势走强理性回归——造船市场2006年回顾及2007年展望

2006年国际造船市场并没有出现人们普遍预期的回落行情。相反，市场行情逆势走强．三大造船指标均创历史最高记录，新船价格指数重回历史最高位．成为名副其实的历史性高峰年。在经历多年建造高峰之后，市场已出现过热迹象，下行压力不断加大，预计2007年国际造船市场兴旺行情将会有所回落，但不会出现巨大落差．总体上仍将属于中度兴旺。     

Evaluating the long term impacts of transport policy: The case of passenger rail privatisation

Britain's national rail system was ‘privatised’ as a result of the 1993 Railways Act, with most of the organisational and ownership changes implemented by 1997. This paper examines the long term impacts of these changes. A key issue when examining long term changes is that of the counterfactual – what would have happened if the changes had not occurred? A simple econometric model of the demand for passenger rail services was developed and used in conjunction with extrapolative methods for key variables such as fares and train km to determine demand-side counterfactuals. Extrapolative methods were also used to determine counterfactual infrastructure and train operation costs. Although our results are sensitive to the assumptions we have made concerning the counterfactual they suggest a number of impacts. Since privatisation, rail demand has grown strongly but our analysis indicates that transitional disruptions suppressed demand by around 9% over a prolonged period (1992/3 to 2005/6), whilst the Hatfield accident reduced demand by about 5%, albeit over a shorter period (2000/1 to 2006/7). A welfare analysis suggests that although consumers seem to have gained as a result of privatisation, for most years this has been offset by increases in costs. An exception is provided by the two years immediately before the Hatfield accident. Overall the loss in welfare since the reforms were introduced far exceeds the net receipts from the sale of rail businesses. Thus although the reforms have had advantages in terms of lower fares and better service levels than otherwise would have been the case, this appears to have been offset by increased infrastructure and train operations costs. The source of these high costs remains an area of speculation but appear to be related to aspects of both market and regulatory failure.     

港口门机的新型防风设备--风力支轨器

门机工作状态下的防风装置一般为顶轨器、夹轨器、铁鞋、防风铁楔等。在装卸作业时,门机整机会随起吊、卸载等动作在轨道上来回晃动,导致夹轨器或顶轨器的钳面与轨道侧面和顶面之间发生相对滑动,造成磨损,降低抗风能力,缩短钳口的使用寿命。现有的防风铁楔放下时与起重机车轮贴紧才能起到防突发性阵风的作用,铁楔的提起动力为液压推杆,在防风铁楔提起来时,液压推杆的电机需一直运转。1　构造及工作原理风力支轨器由机箱、提放杆、顶杆、制动板等组成(见图1 )。支轨器可用螺栓安装在2个车轮间,在起升动力的作用下,提放杆上下动作,制动板放到…     

海事2006年专项工作大盘点

从2006年全国海事工作会议上获悉,今年全国海事系统积极响应和落实“全国海事一家人、水上监管一盘棋”的要求,进一步加强合作,工作成效显著.本年度继续深入开展了渡口渡船安全管理专项整治、全国低质量船舶专项治理、水上危险品运输专项整治,并着手实施中西部海员发展战略为社会主义新农村建设服务,加大船舶“一卡通”工程推行力度,进一步提升各省水上交通管理水平.会上河南省还作了经验介绍。     

Fully nonlinear simulation for fluid/structure impact: A review

This paper presents a review of the work on fluid/structure impact based on inviscid and imcompressible liquid and irrotational flow. The focus is on the velocity potential theory together with boundary element method （BEM）. Fully nonlinear boundary conditions are imposed on the unknown free surface and the wetted surface of the moving body. The review includes （1） vertical and oblique water entry of a body at constant or a prescribed varying speed, as well as free fall motion, （2） liquid droplets or column impact as well as wave impact on a body, （3） similarity solution of an expanding body. It covers two dimensional （2D）, axisymmetric and three dimensional （3D） cases. Key techniques used in the numerical simulation are outlined, including mesh generation on the multivalued free surface, the stretched coordinate system for expanding domain, the auxiliary function method for decoupling the mutual dependence of the pressure and the body motion, and treatment for the jet or the thin liquid film developed during impact.     

Utilization of passenger transport subsidy in Kolkata: A case study of Calcutta State Transport Corporation

The present study tries to see whether the subsidy given to CSTC, which is the oldest and the largest state transport corporation operating in and around Kolkata, is really being used to cover the losses they make over the years or to merely cover-up an inefficient performance. The state owned buses are required to serve, not only non-profitable routes in off-peak hours, but also to give social security or employment to a large section of society. The burden of carrying a huge staff structure and serving at an administered and less than competitive price for welfare reasons, makes CSTC liable to an operating loss. Therefore, it makes a case for subsidy. However, the regular commuters experience regarding the condition of and the services provided by these raises a question about the justification of subsidy. In the study it is seen that the subsidy given is not based on any of the components on which it should, economically.     

2007年1至6月港口国监督检查情况概要

2007年1月1日至6月21日,中国海事局对1937艘次国际航行船舶实施港口国监督检查,发现1771艘次船舶有缺陷,缺陷总项目达14261项。224艘次外国籍船舶被滞留,滞留率为11.56%。受检船舶中,散货船、杂货船分别为495艘次和791艘次,占受检船     

浅谈滚装客船装车处所的固定式灭火系统

装车处所固定式灭火系统直接影响船舶航行安全。文章介绍了滚装客船装车处所固定式灭火系统的配备、各种常见固定式灭火系统的性能,提出了固定式灭火系统的检查要点及保证这些船舶消防设备正确操作和时刻处于良好使用状态的要求。     

琼州海峡客滚船稳性问题及改进措施

近年来,我国客滚船、渡船迭连出事,尤其是渤海海峡接连发生的恶性沉船死亡事故,造成300多人丧生,震动了全国,引起了国人对客滚船安全航行的严重关注.我省与海南省航运界共同经营的琼州海峡航线,现已拥有客滚船43艘,客渡船10艘,每天平均进出港口船舶达103艘次,进出海港车辆平均每天1800多台,旅客5000多人次,船流、车流、人流密度非常大.近年因船舶稳性失衡造成船舶倾翻、沉没事故时有发生.去年以来,笔者因工作多次到该航线观察了解,下面就谈谈客滚船的稳性问题及改进措施.     

关于美国对外籍客船的港口国检查

本文详细介绍了美国对外籍客船的港口国检查标准和要求,对我国的港口国检查运作方式与国际接轨,统一客船检查标准有所借鉴和指导作用。     

转危为安 渤海湾客滚运输的历史性跨越

1999年11月24日,“大舜”轮在渤海湾航行途中发生火灾后沉没,给国家和人民群众生命财产造成了重大损失,．渤海湾客滚运输安全与否,事关人民群众切身利益和经济社会发展稳定。十年后的今天,渤海湾客滚船的安全状况发生了翻天覆地的变化,客滚运输的安全形势不断好转,尤其是近6年来无一船沉没,无一人死亡,实现了渤海湾客滚运输由危转安的历史性跨越。     

Changes in transaction costs over time - The case of franchised train operating firms in Britain

The significant effects of competition, franchising and vertical separation of rail infrastructure from train operation on the level of transaction costs are often anecdotally described in the literature. Although it has been shown that franchising has an effect on total costs, there is very little empirical evidence on whether franchising has an impact on the level of transaction costs over time. One reason for this is, of course, the limited systematic work on the measurement of transaction costs in railways. This paper builds on recent work that applied a top-down approach to transaction cost measurement to identify the size of the transaction sector within rail firms in different EU countries. In cross-country comparison particularly, British train operators turned out to be associated with high levels of transaction costs. However, since the previous work focused on a single fiscal year it did not show any longitudinal effects within one institutional environment or country. Therefore, this paper focuses on British franchised passenger train operating firms and aims to reveal how the transaction sector within those firms has changed over the period 1996/1997-2007/2008 and whether the franchise contract details, such as contract length or the franchising regime, matter. It also aims to estimate the resulting changes in the level of transaction costs and their share in total operating costs for the first time.     

A rational analysis of intact stability hazards involving small inland passenger ferries in Bangladesh

The safety of inland passenger vessels operating in Bangladesh has been investigated. By thorough analysis of past accident data, the main causes of intact stability failures have been determined: adverse weather conditions and overloading, likely resulting in crowding to one side. Historical series of wind data were gathered and their analysis suggests that an increase in the wind speed presently used in the Weather Criterion in force in Bangladesh could be advisable. A model of a small passenger ship typically operated in Bangladesh has been analyzed in order to identify the most relevant hazards under intact ship conditions. A strongly jeopardizing effect of overloading under intact ship conditions has been detected when analyzing the hazard from the crowding of people to one side.     

潜艇舱室供氧技术研究进展

潜艇在现代海洋战争中有着重要的地位,潜艇舱室中氧气供给直接影响着艇员的战斗力。本文综合介绍目前潜艇舱室中成熟的供氧技术,通过对比不同的供氧技术原理,分析各种供氧技术的优缺点;并对正在研究的新技术进行展望,针对发展新型供氧技术提出新观点。     

潜艇舱室供氧技术研究进展

潜艇在现代海洋战争中有着重要的地位,潜艇舱室中氧气供给直接影响着艇员的战斗力。本文综合介绍目前潜艇舱室中成熟的供氧技术,通过对比不同的供氧技术原理,分析各种供氧技术的优缺点;并对正在研究的新技术进行展望,针对发展新型供氧技术提出新观点。     

谈客滚船发生事故时的应急措施

客滚船发生事故时,采取合理的措施以减少人员伤亡和财产损失非常重要。文中针对客滚船的结构特征和常见事故的特点,分析事故原因,提出合理处置措施,以期更好地应对事故的发生。     

安全畅通的"黄金航线"——透视渤海湾客滚运输安全管理

渤海湾特殊的地理环境造成海上交通事故多发,被交通部列为“四区一线”重点监管水域之一,渤海湾客滚船也被交通部确定为“四客一危”重点监控船舶之一。据统计,1997年至2003年,渤海湾共发生客滚船重特大水上交通事故8起,造成300多人死亡或失踪,直接经济损失数亿元。而2004年至今,该水域虽发生过3起客滚船事故,但无一艘船舶沉没、无一人死亡,渤海湾客滚运输安全形势明显好转。日前,本刊记者就渤海湾客滚运输的安全管理情况走访了相关政府部门和企业。