Call-response surveys were conducted to better delineate and estimate the population of the nationally threatened least bittern and their habitat requirements in southern Manitoba, Canada. Other marsh bird species whose populations are believed to be declining due to wetland loss throughout, or in parts of, their range were also surveyed including the American bittern, pied-billed grebe, sora, Virginia rail and yellow rail. Surveys were conducted during the 2003 and 2004 breeding seasons within 46 different wetlands. Least bitterns were encountered on 26 occasions at 15 sites within 5 wetlands. The sora was the most abundant and widely distributed target species and was encountered on 330 occasions in 39 of the 46 surveyed wetlands. Yellow rails were not detected during either survey year due to survey methodology. Use of the call-response survey protocol led to an increase in the numbers of all target species detected. This increase was more significant for the least bittern, sora and Virginia rail. Habitat was assessed as percent vegetation cover within a 50-m radius around the calling sites, and forest resource inventory data were used in a Geographic Information System to determine the landscape composition within a 500-m radius around the sites and within a 5-km radius around the wetlands surveyed. Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between the presence of the target species and the site and landscape characteristics. The target species responded differently to different site and landscape characteristics. Least bittern and pied-billed grebe selected areas with higher proportions of Typha spp. and tall shrubs; American bittern also selected areas with higher proportions of tall shrubs. At the 5-km scale, the American bittern responded positively to the amount of wetland and some positive trends were also detected for the pied-billed grebe. Sora and Virginia rail were not associated with any of the measured landscape characteristics. One of the most important steps towards the conservation of marsh bird species in Manitoba and elsewhere is the development, adoption, and implementation of a standardized survey protocol. Based on the results of the present study, I recommend that future surveys include both a passive and call-broadcast period for marsh bird species. Future surveys should be conducted in both the morning and evening and sites should be visited 3 times each during the breeding season. In southern Manitoba, call-response surveys should begin as early as the beginning of May to ensure the survey incorporates the period of peak vocalization. I recommend that future yellow rail surveys be conducted after dark. In this study many of the target species selected sites that had a greater area of wetland habitat surrounding them. Future wetland conservation efforts should focus on the protection and/or restoration of wetland complexes to ensure that remaining wetlands do not become smaller and increasingly isolated from one another. In addition, the Rat River Swamp was found to be the most productive marsh complex for least bittern in southern Manitoba. Measures should be taken to protect this area from future development and alteration. / May 2006

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a relatively new mode with a wide range of applications that are still not well understood. Its explosive growth in developing and developed countries has increased its exposure but has led to mostly experimental implementation with mixed results. Therefore, better understanding about the reasons behind BRT implementation success and shortcomings is needed. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the state of BRT planning under different contexts by assessing how background theory and practical implementation of BRT systems compare. The scope is limited to current a detailed evaluation of 13 case studies in the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador chosen to represent some of the most succesful and established systems in the world. Data was obtaiend from previous research as well as direct reporting from agencies. The evaluation is performed through qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative methods classify BRT systems by characteristics and assess the relationship between their implementation and performance using the criteria defined in the literature. Quantitative methods build upon the previous analysis to more precisely assess their performance from both the users' and the transit providers' perspectives. This research found that BRT as a public transit mode has a large room of improvement in terms of design and implementation, since there is a significant variability in performance under similar conditions and a considerable gap between planning best practices and implementation. Also, that planning guidelines are still in an early stage of development and difer in scope and application to a particular context. It also found that its success is not conscribed to developing countries, but that its wide range of applications need to be better adapted to the context they should serve. The findings are significant because they dispel myths about the real potential of BRT and partially identify the reasons behind successes and failures of current systems, such as understimation of implementation times and lack of knowledge about component integration. Further research should approach these issues mainly in two complementary directions. First, it should focus on expanding the case study approach to the newer systems in operation once better data is available. Second,it should further advance the development of theoretical framwork for better operational design based on urban form, as well as an evaluation framework that puts more emphasis on user experience and sustainability. Finally, the findings reinforce that BRT is a distinct mode so that systems that do not meet its criteria should not be named as such.

After decades of standstill in intercity passenger rail in the United States, the Obama administration recently started major initiatives to implement high-speed ground transportation projects that are expected to improve the nation's transportation system significantly, addressing most prevailing issues like congestion and energy prices while having positive effects on the economy. This study evaluates and compares two high-speed ground transportation systems that have the potential to improve intercity passenger transportation in the United States significantly: the wheel-on-rail high-speed system and the high-speed maglev system. Both high-speed ground transportation systems were evaluated with respect to 58 characteristics organized into 7 categories associated with technology, environmental impacts, economic considerations, user-friendliness, operations, political factors, and safety. Based on the performance of each system in each of the 58 characteristics, benefit values were assigned. In order to weight the relative importance of the different characteristics, a survey was conducted with transportation departments and transportation professionals. The survey produced weighting factors scoring each of the 58 characteristics and the 7 categories. Applying a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach, the overall utility values for either system were calculated based on the benefit values from the systems comparison and the weighting factors from the survey. It was shown that the high-speed maglev system is generally slightly superior over the wheel-on-rail high-speed system. Because the magnitude of the difference in the overall performance of both transportation systems is not very big, it is recommended that every project in the high-speed intercity passenger transportation market consider both HSGT systems equally.

Call-response surveys were conducted to better delineate and estimate the population of the nationally threatened least bittern and their habitat requirements in southern Manitoba, Canada. Other marsh bird species whose populations are believed to be declining due to wetland loss throughout, or in parts of, their range were also surveyed including the American bittern, pied-billed grebe, sora, Virginia rail and yellow rail. Surveys were conducted during the 2003 and 2004 breeding seasons within 46 different wetlands. Least bitterns were encountered on 26 occasions at 15 sites within 5 wetlands. The sora was the most abundant and widely distributed target species and was encountered on 330 occasions in 39 of the 46 surveyed wetlands. Yellow rails were not detected during either survey year due to survey methodology. Use of the call-response survey protocol led to an increase in the numbers of all target species detected. This increase was more significant for the least bittern, sora and Virginia rail. Habitat was assessed as percent vegetation cover within a 50-m radius around the calling sites, and forest resource inventory data were used in a Geographic Information System to determine the landscape composition within a 500-m radius around the sites and within a 5-km radius around the wetlands surveyed. Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between the presence of the target species and the site and landscape characteristics. The target species responded differently to different site and landscape characteristics. Least bittern and pied-billed grebe selected areas with higher proportions of Typha spp. and tall shrubs; American bittern also selected areas with higher proportions of tall shrubs. At the 5-km scale, the American bittern responded positively to the amount of wetland and some positive trends were also detected for the pied-billed grebe. Sora and Virginia rail were not associated with any of the measured landscape characteristics. One of the most important steps towards the conservation of marsh bird species in Manitoba and elsewhere is the development, adoption, and implementation of a standardized survey protocol. Based on the results of the present study, I recommend that future surveys include both a passive and call-broadcast period for marsh bird species. Future surveys should be conducted in both the morning and evening and sites should be visited 3 times each during the breeding season. In southern Manitoba, call-response surveys should begin as early as the beginning of May to ensure the survey incorporates the period of peak vocalization. I recommend that future yellow rail surveys be conducted after dark. In this study many of the target species selected sites that had a greater area of wetland habitat surrounding them. Future wetland conservation efforts should focus on the protection and/or restoration of wetland complexes to ensure that remaining wetlands do not become smaller and increasingly isolated from one another. In addition, the Rat River Swamp was found to be the most productive marsh complex for least bittern in southern Manitoba. Measures should be taken to protect this area from future development and alteration.

Call-response surveys were conducted to better delineate and estimate the population of the nationally threatened least bittern and their habitat requirements in southern Manitoba, Canada. Other marsh bird species whose populations are believed to be declining due to wetland loss throughout, or in parts of, their range were also surveyed including the American bittern, pied-billed grebe, sora, Virginia rail and yellow rail. Surveys were conducted during the 2003 and 2004 breeding seasons within 46 different wetlands. Least bitterns were encountered on 26 occasions at 15 sites within 5 wetlands. The sora was the most abundant and widely distributed target species and was encountered on 330 occasions in 39 of the 46 surveyed wetlands. Yellow rails were not detected during either survey year due to survey methodology. Use of the call-response survey protocol led to an increase in the numbers of all target species detected. This increase was more significant for the least bittern, sora and Virginia rail. Habitat was assessed as percent vegetation cover within a 50-m radius around the calling sites, and forest resource inventory data were used in a Geographic Information System to determine the landscape composition within a 500-m radius around the sites and within a 5-km radius around the wetlands surveyed. Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between the presence of the target species and the site and landscape characteristics. The target species responded differently to different site and landscape characteristics. Least bittern and pied-billed grebe selected areas with higher proportions of Typha spp. and tall shrubs; American bittern also selected areas with higher proportions of tall shrubs. At the 5-km scale, the American bittern responded positively to the amount of wetland and some positive trends were also detected for the pied-billed grebe. Sora and Virginia rail were not associated with any of the measured landscape characteristics. One of the most important steps towards the conservation of marsh bird species in Manitoba and elsewhere is the development, adoption, and implementation of a standardized survey protocol. Based on the results of the present study, I recommend that future surveys include both a passive and call-broadcast period for marsh bird species. Future surveys should be conducted in both the morning and evening and sites should be visited 3 times each during the breeding season. In southern Manitoba, call-response surveys should begin as early as the beginning of May to ensure the survey incorporates the period of peak vocalization. I recommend that future yellow rail surveys be conducted after dark. In this study many of the target species selected sites that had a greater area of wetland habitat surrounding them. Future wetland conservation efforts should focus on the protection and/or restoration of wetland complexes to ensure that remaining wetlands do not become smaller and increasingly isolated from one another. In addition, the Rat River Swamp was found to be the most productive marsh complex for least bittern in southern Manitoba. Measures should be taken to protect this area from future development and alteration.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2005.

This master's thesis is engaged in development of new sanding units for a specific type of rail vehicle. Sanding in rail transport is application of most commonly silica sand into wheel-rail contact. Thanks to its reliability it is still the most widely used method for removing contaminants and improving adhesion in that contact. Sanding devices were developed in cooperation with corporation, which deals with production of rail transport equipment, among other things. The most important part of sanding device is sand dispenser. Dispensers were experimentally developed at the test station in the cooperating corporation. Dispensers were tested for utilization conditions on the locomotive of the train and conditions for trams and light rail vehicles. Furthermore, sand boxes have been designed for specific type of rail vehicle and new type of sand discharge tube, which directs sand directly into wheel-rail contact was designed too.

Le calcul des efforts normaux et tangents est important pour la modélisation dynamique du système véhicule-voie en ferroviaire. Pour déterminer les forces tangentielles au contact roue-rail, les coefficients de Kalker sont utilisés dans la plupart des codes de dynamique ferroviaire, pour les différents modèles de contact. Ces coefficients ont été mesurés sur banc à plusieurs reprises dans les années 80. Une synthèse de ces travaux, réalisée par Hobbs, montre que certaines de ces mesures présentent une baisse pouvant atteindre 50% par rapport à la théorie de Kalker. L’objet de cette thèse est d’identifier d’abord les véritables causes de la dispersion constatée entre les différentes mesures, généralement attribuée à la contamination de la surface, puis de développer un modèle numérique capable d’en tenir compte.La démarche numérique proposée est sur deux volets. Dans le premier volet, une méthode itérative directe par éléments de frontière basée sur les intégrales de surface de Boussinesq-Cerruti est réécrite pour l’étude du contact normal et glissant entre deux corps élastiques, puis étendue pour la résolution du problème de contact roulant. Appliquée avec succès au contact roue-rail non-Hertzien, cette méthode est un outil prometteur pour l’étude des paramètres influençant les coefficients de Kalker qui allie à la fois la précision et la rapidité.Dans le deuxième volet, le problème du contact roue-rail élastique est résolu à l’aide de la méthode des éléments finis en utilisant les schémas d’intégration temporelle explicite et implicite. La solution élastique est comparée avec le logiciel de référence CONTACT. Le modèle par éléments finis 3D développé a permis de prendre en compte d’une part le comportement élasto-plastique des corps en contact et d’autre part l’existence d’une couche de troisième corps sur l’interface du contact roue-rail. Ainsi, en fin de cette étude, une correction aux coefficients de Kalker est estimée à partir d’un modèle qui prend mieux en compte la réalité physique du contact roue-rail.Afin d’évaluer l’influence de cette correction sur la vitesse critique du véhicule ferroviaire, une étude de stabilité est réalisée avec le code de dynamique ferroviaire VOCO dans lequel des facteurs de réduction des coefficients de Kalker ont été appliqués / The calculation of normal and tangential forces is important for the dynamic modeling of the railway vehicle-track interaction. To determine the tangential forces at the wheel-rail contact level, the Kalker’s coefficients of stiffness are used in most of computer codes for different contact models. These coefficients were measured on bench several times in the 80s. A survey of these works, conducted by Hobbs, shows a decrease of up to 50 % in value compared to Kalker’s theory. The aim of this thesis is first to identify the real causes of the dispersion observed between the various measurements, usually attributed to the surface contamination, then to develop a model taking into account some of them.The numerical modeling of the wheel-rail contact is presented in two parts. In the first part, a direct boundary element method based on Boussinesq-Cerruti solution is developed to study the normal and sliding contact between two elastic bodies, and then extended to the resolution of rolling contact problem. Successfully applied to the wheel-rail contact for non-Hertzian situation, this method is a promising tool for studying the parameters influencing Kalker’s coefficients which combines both precision and speed.In the second part, a finite element model for rolling contact between wheel and rail is developed to study the normal and the tangential contact problems using the explicit and the implicit integration schemes. The elastic solution is compared with the solution of the CONTACT software. The three-dimensional finite element model takes into account the elastoplastic behavior of the bodies in contact as well as the existence of a third body layer at the interface between the wheel and the rail. Finally, a correction of Kalker’s coefficients is estimated from the results of the numerical simulations.To study the impact of this correction on the critical speed of the vehicle, a stability analysis is performed using the multibody dynamics software VOCO in which the reduced factors of Kalker’s coefficients are considered

For the centuries, the old Silk routes in hinterland Eurasia were connecting the Eastern and Western empires and served as a channel for exchange of goods and ideas between the two different worlds. Over the past decades, the international trade between Europe and Asia has rapidly increased and reflected more than 10 million TEU transported by container ships annually. As far as the silk, spice and other traditional goods have been gradually replaced by laptops, tablets and car components, the new transport solutions have been tested to meet the altering nature of logistic demands. Nowadays, the company DB Schenker Rail is the European leader in the rail freight market and needs to sustain the leading position. However, DB Schenker Rail attempts to be not only the best choice on European rail, but further with the first pioneer back and forth rail freight activities between Europe and Asia tries to capitalize on the new business opportunities. On that account the company has raised the question: What are the rail freight customer needs today and what he will need tomorrow in relation to the logistic processes between Europe and Asia? As a result, several customer tailored logistic solutions have been described to meet the altering nature of rail freight demands.

Le mémoire présente le problème de la planification tactique des “blocks” pour le transport ferroviaire intermodal, qui a été peu étudié jusqu’à présent. Nous proposons un nouveau modèle de design de réseau en tenant compte de la spécificité du transport intermodal. La recherche se concentre sur le contexte nord-américain et fait suite à une étroite collaboration avec l’une des principales compagnies ferroviaires nord-américaines. Le “blocking” constitue une importante opération de transport ferroviaire de marchandises, par laquelle des wagons d’origines et de destinations potentiellement différentes sont regroupés pour être d´eplacés et manipulés comme une seule unité, ce qui permet des économies d’échelle. La littérature se limite aux travaux traitant le problème classique du blocage des trains, où la demande est exprimée en termes de wagons. A notre connaissance, aucun travail préalable n’a été consacrè à un contexte de transport intermodal, où la demande est exprimée en termes de conteneurs à dèplacer d’un terminal d’origine donné vers un terminal de destination donné, introduisant ainsi un processus de consolidation supplémentaire. Nous proposons un modèle de “blocking” qui prend en compte plusieurs types de conteneurs et wagons, intégrant l’affectation conteneur-wagon. Nous présentons un nouveau modèle de design de réseau à trois couches en temps continu formulé sous la forme d’un programme linéaire mixte en nombres entiers (MILP), dans le but de minimiser le coût total de transport composé par la sélection de blocs, les coûts d’exploitation et la gestion du coût de la demande. Le modèle peut être résolu en utilisant un solveur commercial pour des tailles réalistes. Nous illustrons les performances et l’intérêt de la méthode proposée à travers une étude de cas approfondie d’un important chemin de fer nord-américain. / The thesis presents the tactical block-planning problem for intermodal railroads, which has been little studied so far. We propose a new block service network design model considering the specificity of intermodal rail. The research focuses on the North American context and follows a close collaboration with one of the major North American railroad companies. Blocking constitutes an important rail freight transport operation, by which cars with potentially different origins and destinations are grouped to be moved and handled as a single unit, yielding economies of scale. The literature is limited to works addressing the classical train blocking problem, where demand is given in terms of cars to be blocked among specific OD pairs. To the best of our knowledge, no prior work has been dedicated to an intermodal transportation context, where demand is expressed in terms of containers to be moved from a given origin terminal to a given destination terminal, hence introducing an additional consolidation process. We propose a blocking model that considers several types of containers and railcars, integrating the container-to-car assignment. We present a new continuous-time, three-layer service network design model formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP), with the objective of minimizing the total transportation cost composed by block selection, operation costs, and handling demand cost. The model can be solved using commercial solver for realistic sizes. We illustrate the performance and interest of the proposed method through an extensive case study of a major North American railroad.