Suchergebnisse

Rail services are needed for basic mobility especially in rural areas and as a mean of reducing congestion and pollution as part of an integrated transport policy in urban areas. In transport expenditure generally there may be a number of options open but in the case of train passenger services there are essentially three: a) to retain the service in its present form, b) to close the service, c) to rationalise the network (by amending merging routes). The only railway likely to be profitable is one where there is an intensive use with high load factors. This is never going to be so for rural railways or on large commuter rail systems. This places the evaluation of such services into the political context.Therefore, it is important to identify the impacts generated from rail services and to determine the social value these represent. This information provides an objective basis for decisions on public funding of rail services. The paper is planned as follows. Section 1 discusses the role of rail services. In section 2 examples of currently used evaluation techniques and criteria are described. This is followed by an examination of a potential approach to the evaluation of rail services, section 3. Section 4 discusses practical issues in relation to the approach outlined. Finally, section 5 summarises the findings and gives suggestions for further research.

During the post-war decades more and more passenger rail services have been deficit making.Economic support for these services has often been provided as a blanket subsidy from thecentral government with little specification of the services concerned. The support issubstantial, at least MECU 7 000 per annum in the European Union (EU) Member Statesalone. Gradually, however, contracting, tendering and franchising schemes are introduced. Atthe same time there is a tendency towards regionalisation and decentralisation of powers. The services concerned can be of a very different character. They can be suburban highfrequency,high-density, high capacity services - these services are often the only realisticmeans to manage the extremely high volumes of traffic in for instance Paris, London orMünchen. They can be long-distance cross-country services in the more sparsely populatedregions of Europe where traffic volumes are too low to make operations on a fully commercialbasis possible. Finally, they can be truly rural services where perhaps a bus would havesufficed for the volume of traffic concerned but where traditions and local opinion oftenprevent this change of transport mode. Various schemes now emerge. Britain may be said to lead the franchising (and privatisation)league but other countries such as Germany and Sweden are further ahead in theregionalisation field.

This paper describes Tokyo's urban rail market, which has traditionally been privately funded and operated; and discusses policies aimed at better coordinating public transport services. Although the industry has delivered high quality infrastructure and services for most users, the existence of many different private operators and owners of tracks means that services and station facilities are not always well connected to one another. Individual private parties often lack sufficient incentives to invest in connectivity improvements, such as installing elevators in stations or implementing missing connections between lines, since these do not usually directly increase their profits. Three case studies explore different policy responses to the challenge of balancing competing wishes of private actors with the needs of travellers. In all cases the government has intervened through legislation and grants to try to stimulate connectivity investment and to do so in consultation with local communities. The recent government interventions into the Tokyo rail market represent a gradual evolution in market structure with the goal of better meeting social needs.

The situation of long-distance in Europe rail has faced different developments at literally different speeds since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Relevant central European parts of the OEM Corridor (e. g. Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary) first suffered a considerable decline in cross-border long-distance rail traffic due to the emergence of low-cost airlines and the freedom of car purchase in the 1990s. Since the beginning of the millennium and partly following the 2004 accession of Middle and Eastern European countries to the European Union, a slight renaissance of Eurocity trains and market penetration of high-speed rail products can be perceived. The other countries in the eastern part of the corridor have mostly not recovered from the rail decline and lag behind. In Greece, rail development suffers generally from unfavourable conditions (different track gauges and disproportion of land and population distribution) and a lack of innovation, and has thus been negatively impacted by the abovementioned boom of car and air. Its geographical isolation in Europe also plays a role. The political downturn of former Yugoslavia reinforced the situation. For passenger rail along the corridor, the paper argues that considerable improvements in service quality and travel time reduction can be made without doubtful high investment in high-speed rail infrastructure. Moreover, building up existing rail infrastructure may avoid giving up conventional rail services as shown for some high-speed rail cases. ; Der schienengebundene Personenfernverkehr in Europa hat sich seit dem Fall des Eisernen Vorhangs mit buchstäblich unterschiedlichen Geschwindigkeiten unterschiedlich entwickelt. Wichtige mitteleuropäische Teile des OEM Corridors (z. B. Deutschland, Tschechien, Österreich und Ungarn) erfuhren aufgrund des Aufkommens von Billigfluggesellschaften und der 'neuen' Freiheit beim Kauf des eigenen PKW in den 1990er Jahren zunächst einen erheblichen Rückgang des grenzüberschreitenden Schienenpersonenfernverkehrs. Seit der Jahrtausendwende und teilweise nach dem Beitritt mittel- und osteuropäischer Länder zur Europäischen Union im Jahr 2004 ist eine leichte Renaissance der Eurocity-Züge und die Marktausbreitung von Hochgeschwindigkeits- Bahnprodukten zu verzeichnen. Weitere Länder im östlichen Teil des Korridors haben sich oft nicht vom Rückgang der Schieneninfrastruktur erholt und hinken hinterher. In Griechenland sind die Bedingungen für das System Schiene generell ungünstig (unterschiedliche Spurweiten und Missverhältnis bei Siedlungs- und Bevölkerungsverteilung) und mangelnder Innovation und wurde daher durch den oben genannten PKW-Boom und ansteigendes Luftverkehrsaufkommen negativ beeinflusst. Auch die geografische Randlage Griechenlands in Europa spielt eine Rolle. Der politische Abschwung im ehemaligen Jugoslawien verstärkte diese Situation. Der Beitrag legt dar, dass erhebliche Verbesserungen bei der Servicequalität und der Verkürzung der Reisezeiten ohne fragwürdig hohe Investitionen in den Hochgeschwindigkeitsverkehr auf der Schiene erreicht werden können. Darüber hinaus kann durch einen Ausbau der bestehenden Schieneninfrastruktur vermieden werden, den klassischen Fernverkehr aufzugeben, wie die Entwicklung des Hochgeschwindigkeitsverkehrs andernorts in Europa verdeutlicht.

Zufriedenheit mit Bahnreisen.

The situation of long-distance in Europe rail has faced different developments at literally different speeds since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Relevant central European parts of the OEM Corridor (e.g. Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary) first suffered a considerable decline in cross-border long-distance rail traffic due to the emergence of low-cost airlines and the freedom of car purchase in the 1990s. Since the beginning of the millennium and partly following the 2004 accession of Middle and Eastern European countries to the European Union, a slight renaissance of Eurocity trains and market penetration of high-speed rail products can be perceived. The other countries in the eastern part of the corridor have mostly not recovered from the rail decline and lag behind. In Greece, rail development suffers generally from unfavourable conditions (different track gauges and disproportion of land and population distribution) and a lack of innovation, and has thus been negatively impacted by the abovementioned boom of car and air. Its geographical isolation in Europe also plays a role. The political downturn of former Yugoslavia reinforced the situation. For passenger rail along the corridor, the paper argues that considerable improvements in service quality and travel time reduction can be made without doubtful high investment in high-speed rail infrastructure. Moreover, building up existing rail infrastructure may avoid giving up conventional rail services as shown for some high-speed rail cases.

Zufriedenheit von Fahrgästen mit der Eisenbahn insbesondere mit Haltestellen und dem Bahnnetzwerk.

Promoting public transportation, which includes rail, metro, bus rapid transit, and bus services is one of the most popular urban transportation policies among transportation authorities in many countries. This popularity may reflect the social requirement to pursue a sustainable transportation system by motivating people to use an environmentally friendly transportation mode. In particular, the modal shift from the automobile to public transportation is highlighted in urban transportation planning because many cities have suffered from serious traffic congestion, which has caused economic losses as well as negative impacts on local, regional, and global environments. In order to attract individuals to use public transportation, the improvement of service is critical. This includes increasing service frequency, decreasing travel time, upgrading station facilities, and introducing higher-capacity vehicles. As most public transportation services are provided directly by public authorities or are financially supported by government/public-sector entities, an investment in public transportation is typically evaluated within a cost-benefit analysis framework. However, since public transportation service consists of many different components, including accessing public transit stops, waiting for the service, riding trains, transferring from one train to another, and exiting to a final destination, it is necessary to evaluate each component in detail. This has made it more difficult to analyze the benefit from public transportation projects than road projects. Thus, there is a strong need to develop a clear methodology by which to value the expected benefits stemming from a public transportation service change in monetary terms according to each service component.

This article reviews the recent experience of franchising metropolitan public transport services in Melbourne, Australia, to assess the extent to which the declared objectives of the franchising have been achieved. The failure of the initial franchise process is argued to be attributable, in significant part, to shortcomings in the Government's understanding of what was achievable from a public-private initiative of this nature, given the Melbourne context. Developments associated with the re-franchising process are summarised, the emphasis shifting towards a strong partnership relationship between purchaser and provider, with a more realistic risk allocation between the two.