Capabilities of a Periodic Containerised Railfreight System in Germany

Based on an analysis of the developments to date, this article originates from and then substantiates long-discussed approaches of a fast, periodic unaccompanied combined rail freight transport network for Germany that corresponds to the target modal split. A four-stage scenario of a market entry is developed. The presented solution incorporates potentially novel aspects such as a network design based on the Deutschlandtakt Cargo integrated periodic timetable framework, the prospective quantity structures as of 2030, and a segmentation for a route-specific mix of two major shipping container types. The set of assessment indicators derived by the model allows to gain insights on the achievable capacities and service levels versus the addressable freight transport demand as well as consequential cost/benefit functions.

Auswirkungen eines Verbots von Inlandsflügen auf Verkehrsleistung, Modal Split und Treibhausgasemissionen des deutschen Personenfernverkehrs

Ein möglicher Ansatzpunkt zur Reduzierung der Treibhausgasemissionen des Verkehrs besteht im Verbot bzw. Wegfall des Inlandsluftverkehrs in Deutschland. In diesem Papier wird der Einfluss einer solchen Maßnahme auf die Verkehrsleistung, den Modal Split und die Treibhausgasemissionen im innerdeutschen Personenfernverkehr untersucht. Dazu wird ein systemdynamisches Simulationsmodell verwendet, mit dem sich künftige Entwicklungen auf dem Personenfernverkehrsmarkt abschätzen lassen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass ein Verbot von Inlandsflügen allein kontraproduktiv im Hinblick auf die verkehrs- und klimapolitischen Ziele wirkt.

Bicycle parking for office buildings in Frankfurt Main/Germany

Until the end of 20th century new big office buildings in Germany – even in the central business district CBD – didn’t provide any or much too less facilities for bicycle parking. Since then the already existing state and municipal regulations have been enforced and new ones exist which define the mandatory number of bicycle parking lots for new office buildings. But now it can be seen that too many lots are required, the real demand is in many cases – and will be in the foreseeable future – much lower. With data from EU and German sources the situation in the Frankfurt am Main CBD is described: political goals for sustainable traffic by enforcing bicycle usage; municipal regulations for the number of bicycle parking facilities; comparison between (politically defined) requirements and the expected real demand. Today’s and future modal-split data for bike usage at office buildings from empirical traffic surveys and assumptions in Frankfurt are presented. Examples of bicycle parking facilities for already existing and planned office buildings in Frankfurt are provided, showing as result a compromise between city’s regulation and the expected demand for bicycle lots.

Estimating commuting modal split by using the Best-Worst Method

Method This paper endeavors to introduce a new approach to modal split estimation. In the frame of the research, a customized model of the recently created Best-Worst Method (BWM) is applied to evaluate mode choice alternatives by transport experts. The integrated BWM model is tested on a real-world case study in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, where a small number of selected experts estimate the modal split of three different groups clustered based on the distance of their commuting. Results The results clearly demonstrate the popularity of public transport among all groups, while car is estimated to be used primarily by short- and mid-distance commuters. The coherence of the responses is tested along with sensitivity analysis and rank correlation comparison. Moreover, the final results are compared to the official modal split data of the city. Recommendations Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the application of BWM results in competitive accuracy compared to the mainstream methodologies, moreover BWM needs significantly less cost and time effort during the survey procedure.

A Two-Phase Gradient Projection Algorithm for Solving the Combined Modal Split and Traffic Assignment Problem with Nested Logit Function

This study provides a gradient projection (GP) algorithm to solve the combined modal split and traffic assignment (CMSTA) problem. The nested logit (NL) model is used to consider the mode correlation under the user equilibrium (UE) route choice condition. Specifically, a two-phase GP algorithm is developed to handle the hierarchical structure of the NL model in the CMSTA problem. The Seoul transportation network in Korea is adopted to demonstrate an applicability in a large-scale multimodal transportation network. The results show that the proposed GP solution algorithm outperforms the method of the successive averages (MSA) algorithm and the classical Evan’s algorithm.

Mode Choice Change under Environmental Constraints in the Combined Modal Split and Traffic Assignment Model

With the increasing level of air pollution and fine dust, many countries are trying to prevent further environmental damage, with various government legislations, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. In the transportation field, a variety of environmental protection schemes are also being considered (e.g., banning old diesel vehicles, alternate no-driving systems, electric car subsidies, and environmental cost charging by tax). Imposing environmental constraints is a good approach to reflect various environmental protections. The objective of this research was to analyze the mode-choice and route-choice changes based on imposing environmental constraints. For the objective, a combined modal split and traffic assignment (CMA) model with an environmental constraint model was developed. For the environmental constraint, carbon monoxide (CO) was adopted, because most of the CO emissions in the air are emitted by motorized vehicles. After a detailed description of the model, the validity and some properties of the model and algorithm are demonstrated with two numerical examples (e.g., a small and a real network in the city of Winnipeg, Canada). From the numerical results, we can observe that imposing the small restriction (or strict) value has more efficiency in mode change and reducing network emission.