The railway system is often considered to be an industry where a monopoly occurs “naturally”, which can explain the public ownership and the use of regulations. However, railways in Europe have been subject to reforms during the last three decades. The use of tendering has increased, which is a way of introducing competition for the market in absence of competition within the market. Still, contracting out services previously produced in-house places a heavy burden on the client, where contract design and its incentive structures can be decisive for the outcome of the reform. This dissertation provides empirical evidence on costs and incentives in a publicly owned monopoly that is subject to reforms, namely the provision of railway maintenance in Sweden. Essay 1 estimates the effect of exposing rail infrastructure maintenance to competitive tendering. The results show that this reform reduced maintenance costs in Sweden by around 11 per cent over the period 1999-2011, without any associated fall in the available measures of quality. Essay 2 estimates the relative cost efficiency between and within maintenance regions in Sweden. The results indicate considerable efficiency gaps together with economies of scale not being fully exploited. Essay 3 analyses the effect of incentive structures in railway maintenance contracts. An increase in the power of the incentive scheme reduces the number of infrastructure failures according to the results. In addition, the estimated effect of the performance incentive schemes suggests that more effort towards preventing train delays is made at the expense of preventing other failures. Essay 4 comprises an estimation of marginal costs of rail maintenance. The static model produces slightly lower marginal costs compared to previous estimates on Swedish data. The results from the dynamic model show that an increase in maintenance costs in year t - 1 predicts an increase in maintenance costs in year t. Indeed, there is an intertemporal effect that depends on the performed maintenance activities (governed by the contract design).

No abstract available / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / unrestricted

Le bruit de roulement est la principale source de bruit des transports ferroviaires pour des vitesses conventionnelles. Il est produit par les vibrations puis le rayonnement acoustique du matériel roulant et de la voie provoqués par le déplacement de la roue et du rail. Ce déplacement est imposé par les défauts microscopiques de surface présents sur les bandes de roulement appelés rugosité.La directive Européenne 2002/49/CE exige la réalisation la cartographies du bruit des infrastructures de transport. Le bruit dans l’environnement peut être prédit par des modèles dont les paramètres d’entrées sont notamment le comportement dynamique de la voie et la rugosité des rails. Ces données sont généralement évaluées par des systèmes de mesures statiques, ce qui limite la caractérisation de la voie à quelques dizaines ou centaines de mètres.Cette thèse a pour objectif de proposer et de valider une méthodologie de mesure de l'état acoustique de la voie sur l’ensemble du réseau. La solution proposée est un système de mesure en situation embarquée nommé LECAV pour « LECture Acoustique de la Voie », qui utilise le bruit rayonné par la voir et par la roue. Leurs gammes de fréquences de rayonnement distinctes permettent de traiter le problème inverse séparément pour la roue et pour le rail, et ceux à partir de l’impédance acoustique.Un modèle vibroacoustique basé sur la méthode des éléments finis et la formulation intégrale de Rayleigh est proposé afin d’estimer l’impédance acoustique de la roue. Pour le rail, les théories des poutres épaisses et des sources ponctuelles élémentaires sont utilisées dans le but de modéliser son impédance acoustique. / The rolling noise is the main source of noise in the railway transport sector at conventional speed. It is produced by the vibration and the acoustic radiation of the vehicle and the railway track, caused by the movement of at the wheel and the rail. These movements are imposed by microscopic irregularities on the rolling surface called roughness.The 2002/49/EC European directive imposes to build noise maps of transport infrastructure. The noise propagating in the environment can be assessed from models whose input parameters are particularly the dynamic behavior of railway tracks and the roughness of rails. These data are generally measured thanks to static systems, which narrow down to the analysis of railway tracks to a few meters.The aim of this Phd is to propose and validate a measurement methodology for the acoustic characterization of tracks for the whole railway network. It is an on-board measurement system named LECAV for "LECture Acoustique de la Voie" in French ("Acoustic reading of railway track") that uses the noise radiated from the wheel and the rail. The respective frequencies ranges of noise emission allow solving the invers problem separately for the wheel and for the rail, and this with the acoustic impedance.

Diploma thesis focuses on the development of high-speed passenger rail in Europe and studies possible geographic expansion of these lines and their feasibility. The theoretical part deals with the development of high-speed rail transport in Europe-especially in France, Italy, Germany and the Iberian Peninsula. In the practical part the thesis analyzes the present spatial expansion possibilities of high speed rail (HSR) with regard to international routes. In the conclusion is in the diploma thesis drafted HSR network for the Central European region.

The thesis is divided into two parts. The first theoretical part defines the basic concepts related to combined transport and its current trends and supporting projects. It is focused on the structure of the European transport networks, with emphasis on road and rail transport. The practical part was developed in collaboration with the company PELMI, Ltd. and is focused on the analysis of the current situation of combined transport and price comparison of straight road and combined transport of containers. There is evaluation and definition of the conditions in which is advantageous / disadvantageous to move the containers road carriage to continental combined transport involving rail in conclusion.

The Master Thesis focuses on comprehensive evaluation of high-speed rail in Japan. The theoretical part describes the history of the Shinkansen systém, which is currently the standard of the high-speed rail. It also discusses the analysis of the key technologies, support systems and respect for nature. Within the technology part also represents a MAGLEV technology, currently being developer as a succesor to the high-speed traffic. In the analytical part analyzes in detail the different tracks and trains used on them. Finally the author compares the Shinkansen system compared to other modes of public transport and passenger transport in three different length routes.

The Master Thesis focuses on development of high-speed rail in France within the scope of low-cost rail companies. The theoretical part describes the process of formation and development of French railways since the beginning of 19th century. It also discusses reasons leading to the creation of high-speed rail and different rail routes and also organizational structure of the company SNCF. Within analytical part, it describes researched types of transport and different groups of passengers. In the last part of the paper, with a help of multicriterial analyses, the most suitable type of transport on a certain route for each group of passengers is chosen.

This Master Thesis focuses on the American railroads as a whole. It describes the evolution of the railroads and the on-going transformation of its importance in comparison with other means of transport. Further, there are described 5 major railway companies and the state owned company Amtrak, which focuses on passenger transport. The analysis elaborates on the topic of competitivness of Amtrak in various corridors. The author is seeking the answer to the question: Is there a possible gap in the passenger transport market that Amtrak can fill?

The aim of this diploma thesis is a summary of current knowledge and experience and analysis of the development of liberalization of the rail passenger transport in the Czech Republic and a detailed description of the current situation and comparison with the transport session Prague - Ostrava, where 3 railway carriers are competing for the favour of passengers. In the first part of the thesis is described historical development of the railways in the world and in the Czech Republic. The following section discusses the legislation relating to rail transport and its liberalization, both from the perspective European as well as from the Czech. The widest third part shows efforts, which have already taken place for tenders for the operation of railway transport and the steps that led to this state. The final part deals with the situation of the rail transport in the transport session Prague - Ostrava, where, as a single line in the Czech Republic, competition among rail carriers was launched.

This thesis contains a design for two axle railcar suspension. Functionality of the design was verified using analytical and numerical calculations.