Hinterland strategies of port authorities: A case study of the port of Barcelona

Port authorities generally focus on the development of the local port area and play a minor role in the development of port hinterlands, whereas shippers, forwarders, barge and rail operators have always been involved in the port-hinterland connection. The increasing importance of intermodal hinterland networks for the competitive position of ports has urged port authorities to become active in the hinterland. This new role has already been suggested by different academics. However, limited empirical evidence exists of port authorities taking stakes in inland terminals or developing transport services. Barcelona, as one of the leading port authorities in this respect, is used as a case study in this paper. The case study provides insight in the components and execution of the hinterland strategy of Barcelona. It shows that the strategy of the port authority of Barcelona and the consequent active involvement in the hinterland has had a significant impact on attracting container volumes from distant hinterlands and improving the accessibility of the port.     

Developing sustainable transport for the next generation: The need for a multi-sector approach

While some countries have made progress in encouraging more sustainable transport and travel patterns, there are limits as to how far this can be taken simply by looking at the decarbonisation of transport systems, since most travel is a derived demand and hence is strongly influenced by decisions taken by public and private sector agencies in different sectors. The paper first identifies some of the major non-transport sector influences on different aspects of travel behaviour. It then looks in more detail at changing patterns of grocery shopping over the last half century, and how these changes have been associated with new non-transport technologies and accompanying developments in business and social practices. Next, a simple visual spreadsheet tool is presented, that has been used by agencies to explore the main cross sector impacts (both positive and negative) of their major location and operating decisions. Finally, the paper proposes three ways in which cross sector synergies can be encouraged: (i) by giving each sector or major organisation responsibility for all CO₂ emissions associated with its activities, including those generated by the travel of its staff, customers, suppliers, etc.; (ii) by making major policy making within government a cross sector activity; and (iii) by developing a common, cross sector appraisal methodology for assessing the full range of impacts of policy proposals.     

Airline productivity redefined: An analysis of U.S. and European carriers

Productivity, in terms of net value added per man-year of labor and capital input, provides a more useful yardstick of airline efficiency than the widely used indices representing average unit costs or labor productivity. Large variations in productivity between airlines, in particular between U.S. and European airlines, can be explained almost entirely by differences in level of service, demand patterns and route characteristics. A regression model calibrated on 1975 data for fourteen U.S. and fourteen European scheduled airlines indicates that productivity could be increased by changes in network shape though a more liberal exchange of traffic rights, greater specialization (in particular the limited involvement of scheduled airlines in the very low yield charter market) and consumer choice — by offering higher frequency, multi-city services.     

A computerized household activity scheduling survey

Household activity scheduling is widely regarded as the underlying mechanism through which people respond to emerging travel demand management policies. Despite this, very little fundamental research has been conducted into the underlying scheduling process to improve our understanding and ability forecast travel. The experimental survey approach presented in this paper attempts to fill this gap. At the core of the survey is a Computerized Household Activity Scheduling (CHASE) software program. The program is unique in that it runs for a week long period during which time all adult household members login daily to record their scheduling decisions as they occur over time. An up-front interview is used to define a household's activity agenda and mode availability. A sample of 41 households (66 adults and 14 children) was used to assess the performance of the survey. Analysis focuses on times to completion, daily scheduling steps, activity-travel patterns, and scheduling time horizons. Overall, the results show that the computer-based survey design was successful in gathering an array of information on the underlying process, while minimizing the burden on respondents. The survey was also capable of tracing traditionally observed activity-travel outcomes over a multi-day period with minimal fatigue effects. The paper concludes with a detailed discussion on future survey design, including issues of instrument bias, use of the Internet, and improved tracing of spatial behaviour. Future use of the survey methodology to enhance activity-travel diary surveys and stated responses experiments is also discussed. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An improved algorithm for matching partial registration numbers

In order to identify route choice, registration number surveys were carried out and the numbers were then matched. Because of the nature of the routes being investigated, it was found that the level of spurious matches was large relative to the number of tripmakers. This cast considerable doubt on the estimated number of tripmakers and their mean journey times. Accordingly, it was necessary to devise an algorithm which minimised the effect of such errors. This algorithm and a method of estimating the number of residual spurious matches is discussed in this paper and is compared with the original algorithm for an actual example.     

An inverse railway wagon model and its applications

An inverse wagon model was developed to estimate wheel-rail contact forces using only measurements of wagon body responses as inputs. The purpose of this work was to provide mathematical modelling to embed in low-cost devices that can be mounted on each freight wagon in a large wagon fleet. To minimize cost, complication, and the maintenance inconvenience of these devices, the constraint is imposed that transducers and connections are limited to locations on the wagon body. Inputs to the inverse model developed include only vertical and lateral translational accelerations and angular accelerations of roll, pitch, and yaw of the wagon body. The model combines the integration and partial modal matrix (PMM) techniques together to form an IPMM method. Besides wheel-rail contact forces some motion quantities such as the lateral and yaw displacements of wheelset are also predicted. Results from the inverse model were compared with data from full scale laboratory suspension tests for vertical suspension excitations. The inverse model was also compared with results from simulations completed in VAMPIRE^® for more complicated track input profiles. The model results and the applications of the model are discussed.     

Comfort enhancement by an active vibration reduction system for a flexible railway car body

In order to improve the ride comfort of lightweight railway vehicles, an active vibration reduction system using piezo-stack actuators is proposed and studied in simulations. The system consists of actuators and sensors mounted on the vehicle car body. Via a feedback control loop, the output signals of the sensors which are measuring the flexible deformation of the car body generate a bending moment, which is directly applied to the car body by the actuators. This bending moment reduces the structural vibration of the vehicle car body. Simulations have shown that a significant reduction in the vibration level is achieved.