scholarly journals Is Trans-Korean Railway Solely a Symbol of Peace in the Korean Peninsula?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9815
Author(s):  
Minha Lee ◽  
Suh-Yong Chung

The islandic geopolitical situation of South Korea led the road-centered development and the road freight share reached 97% in 2015. Trans-Korean Railway, thus, is the key to low carbon development of South Korea. With the Trans-Korean Railway, the export freights for Eurasia can be loaded at a local station for a direct rail transport instead of current d-touring road-ship intermodal transport. This will trigger domestic rail facilitation and reduce road externalities. The corresponding reduction of the shuttle shipment among South Korea–China–Russia may further contribute towards the environmental sustainability of the Yellow and East Seas. Yet, Trans-Korean Railway is considered as a symbol of “peace in Korean Peninsula” that there has not been a sufficient research on the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the Trans-Korean Railway connection. This paper, accounting on various phenomenal evidence including air pollution (environmental), public health risks and high fatality (social) and logistics inefficiency (economic), argues for the needs to change the discussion perspective on the Trans-Korean Railway from traditional politics to its environmental, social, and economic values.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 904
Author(s):  
Charlotte Stead ◽  
Zia Wadud ◽  
Chris Nash ◽  
Hu Li

Biodiesel is a potentially low-carbon, renewable alternative fuel to diesel, sharing similar chemical and physical properties to diesel. There have been significant efforts in introducing primarily bioethanol and some biodiesel to the road transport sector, with varying levels of success. However, the rail sector has not seen as large an effort in introducing biodiesel. This paper summarizes the literature on the introduction of biodiesel (bioethanol was a relevant fuel) in order to learn lessons, which can be applied to the rail transport sector. A decision-making framework PESTLE (Political/Policies, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental) is used to analyze these lessons, and their relevance (or not) to the rail sector. While introduction of biodiesel in the rail sector has some inherent advantages, such as fewer refueling points, customers and manufacturers compared to the road sector, it also faces some challenges, especially in the context of the longer life of locomotives, making fleet turnover and potential transition to 100% biodiesel slow. Additionally, maintenance costs are still uncertain.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 304
Author(s):  
Anna Pernestål ◽  
Albin Engholm ◽  
Marie Bemler ◽  
Gyözö Gidofalvi

Road freight transport is a key function of modern societies. At the same time, road freight transport accounts for significant emissions. Digitalization, including automation, digitized information, and artificial intelligence, provide opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and increase service levels in road freight transport. Digitalization may also radically change the business ecosystem in the sector. In this paper, the question, “How will digitalization change the road freight transport landscape?” is addressed by developing four exploratory future scenarios, using Sweden as a case study. The results are based on input from 52 experts. For each of the four scenarios, the impacts on the road freight transport sector are investigated, and opportunities and barriers to achieving a sustainable transportation system in each of the scenarios are discussed. In all scenarios, an increase in vehicle kilometers traveled is predicted, and in three of the four scenarios, significant increases in recycling and urban freight flows are predicted. The scenario development process highlighted how there are important uncertainties in the development of the society that will be highly important for the development of the digitized freight transport landscape. One example is the sustainability paradigm, which was identified as a strategic uncertainty.


Asian Survey ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 402-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Brewster

The long-standing strategic disconnect between South Asia and the Korean Peninsula is breaking down. Driven by the changing balance of power in Asia, India and South Korea have developed a strong economic partnership, and taken small but significant steps toward a political and security relationship that refects their numerous shared strategic interests. This article explores the contours of this evolving relationship.


Author(s):  
Byeongjoon Noh ◽  
Dongho Ka ◽  
David Lee ◽  
Hwasoo Yeo

Road traffic accidents are a leading cause of premature deaths and globally pose a severe threat to human lives. In particular, pedestrians crossing the road present a major cause of vehicle–pedestrian accidents in South Korea, but we lack dense behavioral data to understand the risk they face. This paper proposes a new analytical system for potential pedestrian risk scenes based on video footage obtained by road security cameras already deployed at unsignalized crosswalks. The system can automatically extract the behavioral features of vehicles and pedestrians, affecting the likelihood of potentially dangerous situations after detecting them in individual objects. With these features, we can analyze the movement patterns of vehicles and pedestrians at individual sites, and understand where potential traffic risk scenes occur frequently. Experiments were conducted on four selected behavioral features: vehicle velocity, pedestrian position, vehicle–pedestrian distance, and vehicle–crosswalk distance. Then, to show how they can be useful for monitoring the traffic behaviors on the road, the features are visualized and interpreted to show how they may or may not contribute to potential pedestrian risks at these crosswalks: (i) by analyzing vehicle velocity changes near the crosswalk when there are no pedestrians present; and (ii) analyzing vehicle velocities by vehicle–pedestrian distances when pedestrians are on the crosswalk. The feasibility of the proposed system is validated by applying the system to multiple unsignalized crosswalks in Osan city, South Korea.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document