Improving the Efficiency of Rail Passenger Transportation Using an Innovative Operational Concept

Abstract

In an increasingly fast-paced world, emerging mobility demands must be met by competitive services that are in line with the principles of sustainable transportation concepts. It is not possible to know exactly what the mobility solution of the future will be, but it is certain that it will require a reduction in car use. A dramatic increase in energy prices will have an impact on the transportation sector, but making public transportation attractive to large numbers of people could reduce unit costs. Public transportation systems can be made more efficient through flexible transportation concepts and by combining individual passenger demand for travel. In the field of rail passenger transportation, practice uses fixed timetables, which do not take into account the changes in ad hoc travel needs. This results in significant losses due to unjustified unnecessary stops and longer travel times. This article presents an operational concept that enables ad hoc passenger demands to be met. The concept ensures minimum energy consumption and a higher level of passenger demand satisfaction through multilevel demand management. A case study was presented to prove the developed theory.

A Two-Level Fuzzy Multi-Objective Design of ATO Driving Commands for Energy-Efficient Operation of Metropolitan Railway Lines

“…In [36], a method for determining the optimal train running interval and routing scheme is proposed based on analyzing the spatiotemporal distribution of passenger flow to control the train load factor. Contrary to the common fixed timetables, an operational concept to produce schedules with ad hoc individual passenger demands was presented in [37].…”

Eco-Efficiency Evaluation of Integrated Transportation Hub Using Super-Efficiency EBM Model and Tobit Regressive Analysis – Case Study in China

“…The study of transportation efficiency began in the 1970s, with researchers initially measuring and analysing the efficiency of urban public transportation [3]. Subsequently, the research scope expanded to include other modes of transportation such as railway [4], aviation [5], waterway [6] and highway [7]. In the 1980s, some countries, including the United States, France and the United Kingdom, began to focus on stock optimisation in transportation infrastructure construction, improving the integrated transportation system through the integration-substitution-expansion of single transportation modes [8].…”

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Transport Accessibility, and Accommodation Accessibility on the Energy Intensity of Public Tourist Transport

“…The energy intensity of public transport is referred to the energy consumption of public transport per unit of passengers transported by this type of transport or per unit of transport performance of this type of transport (MJ/pkm) [90,91]. It can be used to compare the energy efficiency of different public transport systems or to monitor progress toward sustainable transport [82,[92][93][94][95]. As an aside, the primary energy of public transport is the sum of primary energy (e.g., fuel, electricity) consumed by vehicles used in public transport.…”