Suchergebnisse

Reviews and discusses the findings of a number of publications looking at transport and communications in the EU.

Some confusion seems to have developed over the relationship between accessibility and travel patterns. Various concepts of attraction, accessibility, and potential are examined with the object of reaching a more satisfactory definition. Multivariate analysis of data relating to an urban area suggests that the influences of conventional accessibility indices are concealed by collinear socioeconomic variations; when these are separated there is a more pronounced relationship. It is shown that such a relationship has important consequences for urban planning.

The nature of leisure travel is examined and a new approach to demand modelling is suggested that incorporates attraction and accessibility factors into a disaggregated trip generation model which is mode specific. Some experimental empirical estimation of a version of the model yields worthwhile results, and suggests lines for further research and development.

Trans-European transport networks in the European Union have been based on plans submitted by the member states, in most cases already existing plans. One of the largest elements is the planned North European High Speed Rail Network (Paris–Brussels–Köln–Amsterdam–London). This involves five member states, of which one, France, has completed its contribution. Part of the Belgian contribution is under construction, and agreement has been reached on the northern and eastern extensions beyond Brussels. In the United Kingdom the contribution is the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The planning has already taken nearly ten years and has involved conflicts over route choice, station location choice, environmental issues, and detailed local planning. These include vertical conflicts between national, regional, and local governments and horizontal conflicts between regional and local governments. As it is an international link there are both vertical (EU) and horizontal (inter-national government and inter-local government) issues to be resolved. In this paper we provide a detailed analysis of the issues and the procedures used to resolve identified conflicts and attempt an evaluation of the current procedure for assessing projects of this type.