Search

Among different modes of transportation, travel through train is very comfortable and enjoyable especially for people travelling long distances. Population of people increases day by day and hence the requirements also increases in par with the population. Due to increase in population, most of them are not getting the seats at times. In order to overcome this, number of seats could be increased without modifying the outer dimensions of the coach which will be helpful and beneficial for the required people. The proposed idea is to increase the passenger carrying capacity of coaches of Indian Railways from 72 to 84 per coach. 12 seats per coach are increased when compared to existing non-AC 3-tier sleeper coach. Separate ladder provisions for climbing on to the upper compartments, additional windows, power socket for each seat are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a tactical level crew capacity planning problem in railways which determines the minimum required crew size in a region while both feasibility and connectivity of schedules are maintained. We present alternative mathematical formulations which depend on network representations of the problem. A path-based formulation in the form of a set-covering problem along with a column-and-row generation algorithm is proposed. An arc-based formulation of the problem is solved with a commercial linear programming solver. The computational study illustrates the effect of schedule connectivity on crew capacity decisions and shows that arc-based formulation is a viable approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operating scheme of urban rail traffic is closely related to the service level and operating costs. In particular, a study on the optimization of the operating scheme under express-slow mode is of great value. Hidden problems were revealed when an attempt was made to improve the service level. Consequently, how to promote a better service and how to solve operating safety issues are discussed in this paper. The method aims firstly at providing a better service; the entire travel time of passengers was analyzed, and a time-cost algorithm model was established, to minimize the travel time. Then, an optimized model was built and the ant colony algorithm was applied to seek the best solutions for both operators and passengers. Meanwhile, a new problem arose: there was not enough braking distance for the trains to stop in an emergency situation. Finally, the relationship between braking distance and velocity was analyzed, and we were able to assure velocity before braking. The results were that the service level under express-slow mode can be promoted through the optimized model, which also saved passengers' time. It was found that locating the critical point of the braking distance and speed was of great importance. The study has a vital significance and can assist decisions made in support of urban rail transit operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a proposal of methodology of revitalisation of regional railway tracks and regional railway traffic, liberalization and competition in railway transport, quality requirements in regional traffic, principles of the contract on transport services in the public interest and with the current state of regional passenger transport in Slovakia and Serbia. This is Part 2 which is dedicated to study the current situation of regional railway transport in Slovakia and Serbia, the investment plans, the potential changes on the railway transport market and the quality of transport service provided in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frequent incidents caused by metro passengers in China suggest that it is necessary to explore the classification and effects of passenger behaviors and their relations to incident involvement. A metro passenger behavior questionnaire (MPBQ) and a metro station staff questionnaire (MSSQ), both comprising 32 behavior items, were developed and surveyed on a sample of metro passengers ( N = 579) and metro staff ( N = 99). Using the MPBQ, the self-reported frequency of each aberrant behavior was measured and subjected to explanatory factor analysis, which revealed a three-factor solution on the 28 retained behavior items: transgressions, self-willed inattentions and abrupt violations. ANOVA was used to examine the effects of demographic and riding profile variables on different types of behaviors. The MSSQ was used to collect metro staff opinions on behavior frequency, severity and entities that might be affected, given that a specific behavior occurred. An importance hierarchy was established over the 32 identified behaviors to determine the most important riding behaviors. Finally, logistic regression showed that riding time, number of stops experienced by a passenger and, more importantly, transgressions and abrupt violations, were significant predictors of incident involvement. The possible explanations and implications of the findings might help in understanding passenger behaviors and targeting metro safety interventions in ways that promote safer operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European transport policy, defined in the White Paper, supports shift from road to rail and waterborne transport. The hypothesis of the paper is that changes in the economic environment influence rail traffic volume. Therefore, a model for prediction of rail traffic volume applied in different economic contexts could be a valuable tool for the transport planners. The model was built using common Machine Learning techniques that learn from the past experience. In the model preparation, world development indicators defined by the World Bank were used as input parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of the paper is to present a model for the railway traffic that consists of train arrivals and departures at different stations and also the passenger movement in stations, boarding trains and alighting at different destinations. This is a classic example of hybrid system for which initially the existing models are evaluated and the needs of model for this problem scenario are identified. The model proposed is utilized to simulate an experimental setup with the traffic based on the Train schedule and passenger flow in the stations to analyse whether it can work without any conflicts, impacts on passenger comforts, all in a single model. With this, we can determine the schedule of the train for an optimised headway time based on constrains for passenger waiting times and train running times. The simulation results are presented with assumed figures of passenger flow and train traffic. At the end, the optimization formulation is shown to arrive at an optimum schedule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of urban rail transit, the phenomenon of outburst passenger flows flocking to stations is occurring much more frequently. Passenger flow control is one of the main methods used to ensure passengers’ safety. While most previous studies have only focused on control measures inside the target station, ignoring the collaboration between stops, this paper puts emphasis on joint passenger control methods during the occurrence of large passenger flows. To provide a theoretic description for the problem under consideration, an integer programming model is built, based on the analysis of passenger delay and the processes by which passengers alight and board. Taking average passenger delay as the objective, the proposed model aims to disperse the pressure of oversaturated stations into others, achieving the optimal state for the entire line. The model is verified using a case study and the results show that restricted access measures taken collaboratively by stations produce less delay and faster evacuation. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is conducted, from which we find that the departure interval and maximum conveying capacity of the train affect passenger delay markedly in the process of passenger control and infer that control measures should be taken at stations near to the one experiencing an emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public transit has been widely recognized as a potential way to develop low-carbon transportation. In this paper, an optimal allocation model of public transit mode proportion (MPMP) has been built to achieve the low-carbon public transit. Optimal ratios of passenger traffic for rail, bus, and taxi are derived by running the model using typical data. With different values of traffic demand, construction cost, travel time, and accessibilities, MPMP can generate corresponding optimal ratios, benefiting decision impacts analysis and decision makers. Instead of considering public transit as a united system, it is separated into units in this paper. And Shanghai is used to test model validity and practicality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper focuses its study on the Southeast Europe (SEE) and tries to identify real passenger needs (demand) which can reveal rail dynamic and competitiveness in specific connections. Based on a dedicated examination of 11 SEE city hubs (Bologna, Venice, Trieste, Ljubljana, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Thessaloniki, Sofia, Zagreb and Bucharest) examined within "Rail4SEE -- Rail Hub Cities for South East Europe" project, the paper aims to conclude in a quantitative analysis of demand data at regional and transnational level and on a comparative analysis based both on demand and supply data that will open the ground for the development of an accurate SEE modal split model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article analyzed approach commuter passengers to platform, filling of trains on a specific direction, based on which received regularities the approach of passengers to platform, the rate of filling and habitability commuter train. The obtained results enable to carry out calculations of important technical and technological parameters suburban of transportations of passengers such as intervals between the departure of trains, habitability carriages in commuter trains, the definition of a number of turnstiles at the appropriate number of passengers, the safety on the platform, enhancing the convenience and comfort of passengers. Been developed the mathematical model the approach of commuter passengers to platform for any passenger flow and interval between trains. This model allows you to quickly and easily calculate passenger flow in any period of time and assess filling of train by passengers at a specified time t. Constructed a universal analytical model that can describe the filling of platform by passengers for any habitability train and interval between trains, that is very important for the organization of process of transportation of passengers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waiting time influences the overall perception of service quality. The passenger-perceived waiting time can determine their waiting experience. The concept of waiting time refers to the comparison between the passengers' inherent tolerance of waiting and the possible improvement scenarios. This study investigates the passengers' tolerance of waiting under various scenarios of train delays in order to improve their perceived waiting time. We propose the adoption of a modern psychometric method utilizing the Rasch model to measure a subjective latent construct known as ‘wait tolerance'. The Rasch measurement provides mathematical procedures for transforming scores from an ordinal to an interval scale to observe which scenarios can reduce certain passengers' perceived waiting time in the case of a delay. Empirical results show that ‘uncontrollable circumstances', ‘friendly staff attitudes', and ‘providing appropriate messages of apology' can improve the passenger-perceived waiting time during train delays. Likewise, distinct differences are found in the passengers' tolerance of waiting in terms of various personal characteristics, such as gender, age, and train riding frequency. The findings propose the implementation of strategies for improvement by rail system operators, as well as for regulators to define a reasonable service level in the case of train delays. The reviews show possible future innovative research orientations as well. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzes the morning peak-period commuting pattern in a one- to-many transit system. Commuters make their optimal time-of-use decision by trading off the travel time and crowding cost against the schedule delay cost. An equivalent mathematical programming model is proposed to characterize the equilibrium state, we deduce five equilibrium properties of the morning peak-period commuting in a one-to-many mass transit system. 1) Commuters of the same destination disperse in continuous train services and the number of commuters reaches its peak value in the train which arrives the destination at desired time. 2) Earlier trains which are choosed by short distance commuters carry long distance commuters simultaneously. 3) When earlier trains arrive at specific stations, the numbers of commuters in vehicle are constant independent of the train number. 4) When later trains leave specific stations, the number of commuters in vehicle are constant independent of the train number. 5) In specific region of trains, the number of commuters in later trains is less than earlier trains. Illustrated by two numerical examples, all equilibrium states accord with these properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, hyper-Erlang distribution (HErD) which is a restricted class of phase-type distribution (PH) with good versatility and analyticity and seven common distributions are used to fit the distribution of time interval between arriving passengers. From the comparison of a large number of experiments, the fitting effect of HErD is proven to be the best and the applicability of all distributions is given. Then, the fitting parameters of HErD are extracted to analyze the law of their variations, and it demonstrates that when the coefficient of variation is smaller than 1, the distribution is mixed by one exponential distribution (ED) and one 4-order Erlang distribution (ErD), in which there's a power functional relationship between the mixing ratio of ED and the square of coefficient of variation. However, when the coefficient of variation is larger than 1, the distribution is mixed by two EDs, in which there's an S functional relationship between the mixing ratio of one ED and square of coefficient of variation. As a result, the parameters of HErD are simplified into 2 scale parameters determined by the given long-term peak traffic and super- peak coefficient, and thus the PH distribution and PH queuing model can be introduced to the systemic planning and design of urban rail transit station, which will improve the rationality of the design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-term passenger flow forecasting is an important component of transportation systems. The forecasting result can be applied to support transportation system operation and management such as operation planning and revenue management. In this paper, a divide-and-conquer method based on neural network and origin-destination (OD) matrix estimation is developed to forecast the short-term passenger flow in high-speed railway system. There are three steps in the forecasting method. Firstly, the numbers of passengers who arrive at each station or depart from each station are obtained from historical passenger flow data, which are OD matrices in this paper. Secondly, short-termpassenger flow forecasting of the numbers of passengers who arrive at each station or depart from each station based on neural network is realized. At last, the OD matrices in short-term time are obtained with an OD matrix estimation method. The experimental results indicate that the proposed divide-and-conquer method performs well in forecasting the short-term passenger flow on high-speed railway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We propose an empirical study of railway revenue management using ticket reservation data. [•] The latent class choice model is used to account for passenger taste heterogeneity. [•] The proposed formulation allows for simultaneous optimization of pricing and seat allocation. [•] The approach results in significant revenue gain by accounting for passenger choice behavior. [•] The method can be transferred to other problems for which just internet booking data are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the demand for passenger rail in Spain after the extension of the Spanish high-speed rail (HSR) network. It is reported that a large increase in HSR travel demand occurred during the expansion Spanish HSR network in 2005-2009. It discusses reasons for the low impact of the HSR expansion on modal share as compared to other European countries.

The climate impact from a long-distance trip can easily vary by a factor of 10 per passenger depending on mode choice, vehicle efficiency, and occupancy. In this paper we compare the specific climate impact of long-distance car travel with coach, train, or air trips. We account for both, CO2 emissions and short-lived climate forcers. This particularly affects the ranking of aircraft's climate impact relative to other modes. We calculate the specific impact for the Global Warming Potential and the Global Temperature Change Potential, considering time horizons between 20 and 100 years, and compare with results accounting only for CO2 emissions. The car's fuel efficiency and occupancy are central whether the impact from a trip is as high as from air travel or as low as from train travel. These results can be used for carbon-offsetting schemes, mode choice and transportation planning for climate mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Urban rail transit is a complex and dynamic system, which is difficult to be described in a global mathematical model for its scale and interaction. In order to analyze the spatial and temporal characteristics of passenger flow distribution and evaluate the effectiveness of transportation strategies, a new and comprehensive method depicted such dynamic system should be given. This study therefore aims at using simulation approach to solve this problem for subway network. Design/methodology/approach: In this thesis a simulation model based on multi-agent approach has been proposed, which is a well suited method to design complex systems. The model includes the specificities of passengers' travelling behaviors and takes into account of interactions between travelers and trains. Findings: Research limitations/implications: We developed an urban rail transit simulation tool for verification of the validity and accuracy of this model, using real passenger flow data of Beijing subway network to take a case study, results show that our simulation tool can be used to analyze the characteristic of passenger flow distribution and evaluate operation strategies well. Practical implications: The main implications of this work are to provide decision support for traffic management, making train operation plan and dispatching measures in emergency. Originality/value: A new and comprehensive method to analyze and evaluate subway network is presented, accuracy and computational efficiency of the model has been confirmed and meet with the actual needs for large-scale network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In recent years the problem of traffic congestion and its management has become increasingly prominent. It is a hot research about how to make full use of computer simulation technology to make transportation more rational and more organized. In this paper, we focus on traffic of Beijing West Railway Station north area, and try to find a way to reduce traffic congestion in this area. Approach: In this paper, we studied the traffic flow by survey. We also built a traffic simulation model with VISSIM software. Different types of vehicles and their speed are set in model according survey data. The simulation model provides different traffic scenarios of Beijing West Railway Station north area. Findings: We found the traffic of this area up is to 1800 vehicles/hour. Heavy traffic burden causes traffic congestion in two positions: the bus hub and car drop-off point. If we can extend bus interval departure time and park cars to south square of Beijing West Railway Station, the traffic condition will be improved. Originality: This paper gives a solution to reduce traffic congestion in Beijing West Railway Station north area. The bus hub and car parking lots are the key point of traffic problem in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The train dispatching is a crucial issue in the train operation adjustment when passenger flow outbursts. During holidays, the train dispatching is to meet passenger demand to the greatest extent, and ensure safety, speediness and punctuality of the train operation. In this paper, a fuzzy passenger demand forecasting model is put up, then a train dispatching optimization model is established based on passenger demand so as to evacuate stranded passengers effectively during holidays. Design/methodology/approach: First, the complex features and regularity of passenger flow during holidays are analyzed, and then a fuzzy passenger demand forecasting model is put forward based on the fuzzy set theory and time series theory. Next, the bi-objective of the train dispatching optimization model is to minimize the total operation cost of the train dispatching and unserved passenger volume during holidays. Finally, the validity of this model is illustrated with a case concerned with the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway in China. Findings: The case study shows that the fuzzy passenger demand forecasting model can predict outcomes more precisely than ARIMA model. Thus train dispatching optimization plan proves that a small number of trains are able to serve unserved passengers reasonably and effectively. Originality/value: On the basis of the passenger demand predictive values, the train dispatching optimization model is established, which enables train dispatching to meet passenger demand in condition that passenger flow outbursts, so as to maximize passenger demand by offering the optimal operation plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany's third longest rail tunnel in operation / Deutschlands drittlängster Bahntunnel in Betrieb Current status of design on the Rastatt Tunnel / Aktueller Planungsstand bei Tunnel Rastatt DB awards the Widderstall Tunnel (NBS) / DB vergibt Tunnel Widderstall (NBS) A14: Half-time for the refurbishment of the Pfänder Tunnel / A14: Halbzeit bei der Sanierung des Pfändertunnels Reißeck II: Half time at the largest power station site in Austria / Reißeck II: Halbzeit auf Österreichs größter Kraftwerksbaustelle Construction contract awarded for the Stadtbahn Dortmund / Bauauftrag für Stadtbahn Dortmund vergeben Strabag wins a contract for part of the Westbahn line / Strabag erhält Auftrag für Teilstück der Westbahn Development of resource-efficient and advanced underground technologies - Montan Universität Loeben coordinates the EU-Project DRAGON Hochtief to build hydropower station in South America / Hochtief baut Wasserkraftwerk in Südamerika 3rd International Conference on Computational Methods in Tunnelling and Subsurface Engineering (EURO:TUN 2013) / 3rd International Conference on Computational Methods in Tunnelling and Subsurface Engineering (EURO:TUN 2013) Herrenknecht takes over Techni-Métal Systemes / Herrenknecht übernimmt Techni-Métal Systemes Call for papers - Themes for the next issues of Geomechanics and Tunnelling / Themen für die nächsten Ausgaben der 'Geomechanics and Tunnelling' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The configuration of service facilities, such as ticket vending machines, staffed ticket booths, automatic fare gates, and escalators, is an important issue for the plan and design of rail transit stations. Reasonable configuration of service facilities is based on a good understanding of the passenger traffic characteristics of such service facilities, which are affected by passenger characteristics, station types, and facility performance. To study the passenger traffic characteristics of service facilities, five stations are selected in Shanghai, and their passenger traffic data are collected and analyzed. In this study, the results indicate that service-time frequencies of ticket vending machines and staffed ticket booths follow Weibull distribution and exponential distribution, respectively, and that the headway of passengers passing the automatic fare gate under ideal conditions follows normal distribution. According to the service time and headway distributions of ticket-selling facilities and automatic fare gates, the derived capacities of ticket vending machines, staffed ticket booths, and automatic fare gates are 137, 186, 253, 368, and , respectively. In addition, theoretical analysis and field survey of escalators show that escalator capacity is between 4,700 and . It is found that the capacities of ticket-selling facilities and escalators in this study are far lower than those in China's design codes. The capacity of automatic fare gates in this study is a little lower than that in China's code; however, it is a little greater than that from the corresponding U.S. capacity manual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 30,000 miles of railroad and 4,000 miles of canals were constructed in the United States between 1815 and 1861. However, the lack of data has prevented the study of this “transportation revolution” for most cities. This article thus enables a closer study of antebellum travel improvements by constructing a hub-and-spoke network that is capable of estimating the cost of passenger travel from New York City and Philadelphia to any U.S. city in 1836, 1850, 1856, 1859, and 1867. The semi-parametric approach provides an accurate cost estimate by using available historical information to determine the travel cost to all other cities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Short-term passenger flow forecasting is a vital component of transportation systems. The forecasting results can be applied to support transportation system management such as operation planning, and station passenger crowd regulation planning. In this paper, a hybrid EMD–BPN forecasting approach which combines empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and back-propagation neural networks (BPN) is developed to predict the short-term passenger flow in metro systems. There are three stages in the EMD–BPN forecasting approach. The first stage (EMD Stage) decomposes the short-term passenger flow series data into a number of intrinsic mode function (IMF) components. The second stage (Component Identification Stage) identifies the meaningful IMFs as inputs for BPN. The third stage (BPN Stage) applies BPN to perform the passenger flow forecasting. The historical passenger flow data, the extracted EMD components and temporal factors (i.e., the day of the week, the time period of the day, and weekday or weekend) are taken as inputs in the third stage. The experimental results indicate that the proposed hybrid EMD–BPN approach performs well and stably in forecasting the short-term metro passenger flow. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Swiss Journal of Sociology / Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of Sciendo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Among the most commonly used methods of scheduling train stops are practical experience and various "one-step" optimal models. These methods face problems of direct transferability and computational complexity when considering a large-scale high- speed rail (HSR) network such as the one in China. This paper introduces a two-stage approach for train stop scheduling with a goal of efficiently organizing passenger traffic into a rational train stop pattern combination while retaining features of regularity, connectivity, and rapidity (RCR). Based on a three-level station classification definition, a mixed integer programming model and a train operating tactics descriptive model along with the computing algorithm are developed and presented for the two stages. A real- world numerical example is presented using the Chinese HSR network as the setting. The performance of the train stop schedule and the applicability of the proposed approach are evaluated from the perspective of maintaining RCR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article develops a rapid response ridership forecast model, based on the combined use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), distance-decay functions and multiple regression models. The number of passengers boarding at each station in the Madrid Metro network is estimated as a function of the characteristics of the stations (type, number of lines, accessibility within the network, etc.) and of the areas they serve (population and employment characteristics, land-use mix, street density, presence of feeder modes, etc.). The paper considers the need to evaluate the distance threshold used (not the choice of a fixed distance threshold by assimilation from other studies), the distance calculation procedure (network distance versus straight-line distance) and, above all, the use of distance-decay weighted regression (so that the data from the bands nearer the stations have a greater weighting in the model than those farther away). Analyses carried out show that weighting the variables according to the distance-decay functions provides systematically better results. The choice of distance threshold also significantly improves outcomes. When an all-or-nothing function is used, the way the service area is calculated (straight-line or network distances) does not seem to have a decisive influence on the results. However, it seems to be more influential when distance-decay weighting is used. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The fragmented and ever more specialized nature of today’s railway systems makes it more and more complex to operate. An increasing number of actors are involved in the operation of a railway service. Infrastructure management is being separated from the operational aspect. Apart from the traditional state-owned train operators, open access and private operators start using the same infrastructure as well. Additionally, an increasing number of information systems, such as for real-time passenger information and entertainment need to exchange information. Therefore, Information & Communication Technologies have an increasingly vital role to play in the operation of the railways. However, as the use of stand-alone information systems improves the efficient operation of a single railway stakeholder, due to the complex fragmented nature, there is a clear need to integrate and correlate the available information. A high level of structured interoperability between information systems is required to correctly combine and manage this complex information. Several mechanisms exist to integrate information systems. The approach presented in this paper discusses the integration on data level. The main benefit of this approach is that it supports independent application development. It is after all undesirable and nearly impossible to centralise application development in world-wide fragmented and large systems, such as the railways. We will discuss a number of approaches towards data integration. Two main technologies are considered, namely Unified Modelling Language (UML) and ontologies. An ontology-based solution is compared with an UML-based approach. The advantages and disadvantages of both UML and ontology-based approaches are presented. The results are evaluated by means of a demonstrator developed as part of the InteGRail project (Intelligent Integration of Railway Systems), an FP6 EU research project. We believe that this demonstrator, the Network Statement Checker, is an ideal candidate to demonstrate the advantages of an ontology-based integrated information system. This tool allows the infrastructure operators to combine the network statements of different countries in different formats and to analyse them in a transparent way. The ontology-based approach shows clear advantages compared to the UML approach, by means of the formally defined model, but on the other hand the performance of the currently available tools is still to be improved. However, we believe that the augmented value of an ontology-based approach is also to be found in lower development costs because of its potential reuse in multiple applications, since their philosophy is to serve as a domain model instead of as a data model for a specific application. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the increasingly complex world, decision makers need assistance in making informed transportation planning decisions. This article describes the application of rough set (RS) and back propagation neural network (BPNN) in the development of a novel hybrid intelligent model for forecasting the railway passenger traffic demand. The model intends to exploit the respective advantages of both RS and BPNN methods, but to avoid their respective weak points. The basic idea is to think of RS as the pre-treatment unit for BPNN that can mine knowledge from historical data. To do so, RS was used in data pre-treatment and constructing the decision table, and obtaining the minimum rule set from the decision table reduced by discretizing continuous attributes through a hybrid hierarchical k-means clustering. Input such rule set to the BPNN, trained on a sample dataset to determine parameters by using the Levenberg—Marquardt algorithm and the golden section algorithm. A hybrid intelligent forecasting model based on RS and BPNN is thus constructed and applied to forecast railway passenger traffic demand with pre-treated forecasting data. In the experiment, the railway passenger traffic data in China from 1991 to 2008 are selected as learning samples and testing samples, and the effectiveness of this method is verified in comparison to the linear recursive method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses improving sustainability in the U.S. through the expansion of the U.S. passenger rail service in urban areas. Topics include the role of transportation in the assessment of urban environmental impacts, the need for diversification of the U.S. transportation system, a historical overview of U.S. passenger rail traffic, and factors contributing to a successful passenger rail system and its subsequent benefits to society.

Abstract: Despite the many socio-economic similarities between Sweden and Norway, differences in jurisdiction, organisation, cooperation, and financing of long-distance passenger train and coach services have led to the development of four distinctively different ways of serving the markets. This paper describes how the train and coach markets have developed in the two countries, with emphasis on regulatory and industrial structure and a couple of performance variables. Looking at passenger rail, both countries separated infrastructure from operation over a decade ago. However, while Norwegian rail is characterised by an almost monopoly supplier, rail services in Sweden are partly decentralised to the responsibility of county authorities and are widely subjected to competitive tendering. The rest of the network is about to be opened up for on-the-track competition. Swedish Rail (SJ) has spent the last decades consolidating its core business (passenger rail) and sold out its other businesses. In contrast, the Norwegian state rail (NSB) has expanded its business to become a major bus operator and property owner, with extensions also into the Swedish market. The coach industry was more recently deregulated in both countries. The Swedish coach market is dominated by privately owned companies operating services to and from Stockholm. In Norway, state-owned NSB is a major coach operator on medium distance routes, and is also the largest partner of Nor-Way Bussekspress which totally dominates long-distance coach services. Further, the Norwegian coach market is characterised by cross-ownership and cooperation which has enabled an extensive route network which covers most of Norway. We find distinct differences in achievements in the two modes and in the two countries. Swedish rail services have succeeded in winning market shares and in renewing and developing both infrastructure and service levels to a greater extent than the Norwegian model. On the other hand, the Norwegian coach market seems to be more developed and efficient compared to its Swedish counterpart. The paper concludes with a discussion on the possible links between the different approaches and the performance observed, with the aim to stimulate further and more detailed research on some important issues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Whilst the emphasis of European Union rail legislation to date has been on freight, measures such as separation of infrastructure from operations, infrastructure charging regimes and regulation have major implications for the passenger sector. But implementation of these measures in many countries has been inadequate. Crucial to overcoming these problems is the establishment of strong independent regulators in all member states. There is currently no requirement for competition in the passenger sector except for international services, but there is experience both of open access for commercial services and of competitive franchising. However, even where permitted open access competition has been very limited and there is evidence that undesirable cream skimming may be a problem. Experience of franchising has generally been positive, but in some cases it has failed to drive down costs. It is concluded that a combination of more sensible risk sharing, a determination not to renegotiate, longer franchises and limited open access competition where justified by benefits is likely to be the best way forward. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a multiobjective generalized cost (GC) based passenger information system (PIS) design for multimodal transit system that integrates geographical information system (GIS) processing, network analysis, user interfacing, and database management. The GC approach for trip planning is especially important in the Indian scenario, where the various modes of transport are generally not harmonized, and the transfer time from one mode to another may be very large. It also imitates the natural tendency of public transport users to attach differential importance to various legs of a trip (walking, waiting, travel time, etc.) while planning for it. The proposed PIS gives answers to user queries like optimum path based on time, cost, distance, or generalized cost, and other related information for making a trip. It is implemented on a multimodal integrated transit network developed through past work for the city of Thane in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of stated-preference in a discrete choice experiments designed to examine the potential demand for a new type of passenger train between Tunja and Bogotá. The study investigates choice behaviour between three modes of transportation: bus, train and car. Each mode is represented in terms of cost, travel time and headway with a mixed logit model, which includes regularly for individuals. The model was used to experiment with different scenarios, finding the modal split for each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]