Accommodation wagons and night trains have a relatively long tradition in Europe and have been a popular and developed segment of transport for decades. However, at the end of the last century, the trend began to change, and long-distance night traffic began to stagnate. The consequence was the significant restriction and cancellation of several direct international night train connections or direct accommodation wagons in several European countries, including Slovakia, also due to the fast and affordable air transport. In addition, the period of the corona crisis limited long-distance night transport even more significantly. However, bold plans are now emerging in certain countries to reintroduce more night train services. The article deals with a brief analysis of the development of night train connections in Europe, including the current state and vision for the future, while providing systematic conceptual proposals for the development of the mentioned transport segment in the future.
The issues that determine the capacity of railway infrastructure are topical in situations that are reaching operating limits. According to the objectives of the European transport policy, it is assumed that up to 30% of road freight over 300 km should shift to other modes such as rail or waterborne transport by 2030. The transport system should become more competitive and efficient in the use of resources. This places high demands on the railway infrastructure, which is mainly operated in a mixed transport mode, with both passengers and freight. It is necessary to increase the capacity of these lines as a priority. The intent of this paper is to propose procedures that will simply and accurately determine the quantification of benefits for increasing the throughput performance of the line. For the initial estimates and assessments of investment measures, it is advantageous to use analytical methods to determine the throughput performance. The methodological approach for determining the throughput performance in the anticipated timetable and case study were approximated on the example of the rail freight corridor marked “Amber” that passes through Slovakia. Analytical procedures have been proposed according to the methodology used on the railways of Slovakia, and the quality issues were assessed using a new approach for determining the optimal and critical throughput performance. The mentioned procedures are advantageous for assessing infrastructural measures from the point of view of a railway infrastructure manager.
Rail transport has a crucial role to play not only in the EU’s strategy for a sustainable transport sector, but also in terms of economic and social cohesion. It contributes significantly to the mix of transport modes in the EU, while providing clean mobility and a high degree of efficiency. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of passenger and freight rail transport has fallen sharply due to constraints and lower demand for transport. Several players in the rail market had to close down. Rail operators had to face a sharp decline in transport services. In 2020, the demand for passenger transport was significantly lower than in the previous year. Thus, railway undertakings were not able to pay the charges for access to the railway infrastructure during the emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Infrastructure managers had the opportunity to temporarily reduce, waive or defer these charges. The negative economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic could reduce or significantly endanger their financial viability for market stakeholders. Reducing charges for access to railway infrastructure is just one of the few measures that will help railway undertakings to function better. The paper focuses on the analysis of the impact of the pandemic and the implemented measures on the passenger rail sector in the Slovak Republic and on the development of rail passenger and freight transport during the pandemic. It summarizes the proposed measures against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in rail transport in Slovakia.
Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on rail transport in the EU. The slowdown in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has been achieved by reducing the mobility of the population. The reduction in mobility has had an impact on passenger transport performance. The number of national rail passengers fell by as much as 90% during the first wave of the pandemic compared to the previous year. Several operators, especially new carriers, had to close down, while rail freight operators reported a dramatic drop in volumes as many sectors slowed or even stopped production as a result of the pandemic. The second wave of the autumn 2020 pandemic has forced many countries to take further restrictive measures regarding population mobility. The outbreak of the third wave of the pandemic has prevented a rapid recovery in rail transport, especially for passenger rail services. The paper focuses on the analysis of the impact of the pandemic and the measures put in place on the development of transport performance in rail transport in the Slovak Republic during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper proposes operational and organizational measures against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in railway transport in the Slovak Republic.
The analysis of technological procedures in transport and logistics aimed at innovating established procedures is an ongoing process not only in the present. Constant innovation can significantly reduce the operating costs and dramatically increase transport speeds. Continuous modernization reflecting customer needs keeps the rail sector competitive with other modes of transport. The research explores the use of augmented reality in procedures for processing sets of wagons in freight trains. The analysis involves technological procedures in rail freight transport at the marshalling yard, revealing characteristics of augmented reality. We assessed the feasibility of implementing options separately for the carrier, the railway infrastructure manager and the combination of both. The implementation of augmented reality is always rational, representing a simplification, acceleration or reduction of costs in the usual technological procedures. Incorrectly implemented augmented reality may cause serious complications to the technological process, including undue delays, overpricing and safety threats to employees operating in the track.
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