high speed intercity passenger rail is an inherently strong railway application. it operates over 250 km/hour. for perspective, high-speed represents the ultimate development of preexisting standard gauge infrastructure. network of high-speed passenger rail lines aimed at reducing accident, reducing traffic congestion, air pollution cutting national dependence on foreign oil and improving rural...

Correspondence to: D. Levinson (e-mail: dmlevins@uclink2.berkeley.edu) Abstract. This paper examines the full costs, defined as the sum of private and social costs, of a high-speed rail system proposed for a corridor connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco in California. The full costs include infrastructure, fleet capital and operating expenses, the time users spend on the system, and the soc...

A three-staged least squares translog cost function is estimated for 13 heavy-rail and nine light-rail United States urban mass transit systems for the period 1985-1991. Firm output is taken to be endogenous. Large economies of density are found in operating costs. These economies become even more substantial when the cost of way and structure maintenance and capital costs are incorporated. How...

This paper is produced and circulated privately and its inclusion in the conference does not constitute publication. Abstract The UK currently only has one new light rail (tram) scheme being implemented. By way of contrast, a number of high-quality bus systems have been developed; for example Cambridge and Luton Guided-busways, Thames Gateway Fastrack, Crawley Fastway and 'streetcar' bus operat...

As state transportation planners seek to build or support sustainable transportation systems in an era of economic challenges, they find few publicly available rail analysis models for stakeholders to examine the environmental impacts, socio-economic effects and costs associated in investing in rail infrastructure. This paper, taken from a University Transportation Center Program (UTCP Region 6...

A model to compare three alternative forms of public transport – light rail, heavy rail and bus rapid transit is developed for an urban network with radial lines emanating from the borders to the city centre. The theoretical framework assumes an operation aimed at minimising the total cost associated with public transport service provision, which encompasses both operator and users costs. The d...

In this article we estimate external costs for four representative types of freight trains. For each type of freight train, we estimate three general types of external costs and compare them with the private costs experienced by railroad companies. The general types of external costs include: accidents (fatalities, injuries, and property damage); emissions (air pollution and greenhouse gases); ...