Competition in the Railway Industry: An International Comparative Analysis (Transport Economics, Management, and Policy)

Competition in the Railway Industry: An International Comparative Analysis (Transport Economics, Management, and Policy) Review

Numerous countries have attempted to improve the performance of their railways by introducing more competition, but there is fierce debate and no consensus on how this is best achieved. This book reveals how railways were an obvious target for reform because they were often losing traffic and money, and because the government was typically deeply involved as either owner or regulator. This book summarizes and assesses the evidence from the experiences of rail reform in Europe, Latin America, and the United States. In short, the book reveals that no one approach has proven to be best across a wide variety of circumstances. It highlights how unbundling (separating infrastructure from train operations so that independent train operators could compete over common tracks) although attractive in theory, has so far proved complex to implement and delivered only some of the promised benefits. Privatization and deregulation have had more demonstrated success in the freight systems of North and South America, but are still largely untested in the more complex railway networks of Europe. The evidence is arguably slightly stronger for privatization and deregulation than for unbundling, but the jury is still out. "Competition in the Railway Industry" is invaluable in that it compares the strategies and experiences of different countries in introducing competition in railways, rather than simply focusing on one country and its approach. As such, it will appeal greatly to those in industry and government interested in railway policy and performance, and privatization and deregulation of utilities more generally. It will also appeal to academics and researchers of public sector, transport and industrial organization.

Transport cost analysis: a case study of the total costs of private and public transport in Auckland [An article from: Environmental Science and Policy]

Transport cost analysis: a case study of the total costs of private and public transport in Auckland [An article from: Environmental Science and Policy] Review

This digital document is a journal article from Environmental Science and Policy, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The current level of motorised transportation worldwide is increasingly a social, environmental and economic problem. Transport benefits come alongside injuries and death, unproductive travel time, energy dependence, and environmental damage. One reason for the increasing problem results from externalising various impacts on society. Many of these external - or 'unpaid' - costs have only gradually been recognised and most have either been under-valued or are considered impossible to estimate since they have no value in a market. This research assesses the external (unpaid) and internal (user paid) cost of transport. It focuses on estimating the total cost of both private and public transport, using a case study for Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. The external costs are significant -2.23% of the GDP produced by the 1.2million Auckland region residents in 2001. Of this private transport generated 28 times more external cost than public transport. The internal cost assessment showed that total revenues collected did not even cover 50% of total transport cost. The research has shown that not only are the external costs of vehicle transport high, but that contrary to popular belief the total costs of private transport are subsidised by public transport users. This has implications for successful transport policy options.

Cost-Benefit Analysis: Cases and Materials

Cost-Benefit Analysis: Cases and Materials Review

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is the systematic and analytical process of comparing benefits and costs in evaluating the desirability of a project or programme, often of a social nature and for society as a whole. CBA is fundamental to government decision-making and can be an effective tool for informed decisions on the use of society's scarce resources. This book highlights the main concepts and principles of cost-benefit analysis used in real life cases and actual applications. The book contains rich cases, materials and examples of real life CBA applications with emphasis both on physical and non-physical projects and infrastructure developments in Asia and beyond. The book also discusses techniques frequently used in applied CBA.

The first part of the book introduces the key concepts and principles of CBA before Part Two covers some pertinent issues relating to CBA, such as the recent trend of using behavioural economics and frequently used techniques in applied CBA. Finally, in Part Three, case studies are written up to illustrate how CBA is done, and questions for the readers and students to ponder are raised at the end of each chapter.

The scope of the case studies is more than just physical infrastructures but will include public sector policies and programmes covering a host of social policies as in health, education, social welfare programmes, and the environment. For each case, there will be illustrations of the key concepts and principles of CBA used. Undertakings analyzed include:

• the Three Gorges Dam in China
• the 2008 Beijing Olympics
• the Costs of Global Warming
• the Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh

The case studies, many of which have taken or are to take place in developing countries provide a rich background to the principles of the method, and are accompanied by a wealth of explanatory material. As well as being suitable for courses in Cost-Benefit Analysis, Public Finance, Environmental and Health Economics, the book should be of interest to all public policy decision makers and planners.

Analysis of Transport Phenomena (Topics in Chemical Engineering)

Analysis of Transport Phenomena (Topics in Chemical Engineering) Review

An ideal text for graduate level courses in transport phenomena for chemical engineers, Analysis of Transport Phenomena provides a unified treatment of momentum, heat, and mass transfer, emphasizing the concepts and analytical techniques that apply to all of these transport processes.
The first few chapters establish the tools needed for later analyses while also covering heat and mass transfer in stationary media. The similarities among the molecular or diffusive transport mechanisms--heat conduction, diffusion of chemical species, and viscous transfer of momentum--are highlighted. Conservation equations for scalar quantites are derived first in general form, and then used to obtain the governing equations for total mass, energy, and chemical species. The scaling and order-of-magnitude concepts which are crucial in modeling are also introduced. Certain key methods for solving the differential equations in transport problems, including similarity, perturbation, and finite Fourier transform techniques, are described using conduction and diffusion problems as examples.
Following chapters are devoted to fluid mechanics, beginning with fundamental equations for momentum transfer and then discussing unidirectional flow, nearly unidirectional (lubrication) flow, creeping flow, and laminar boundary layer flow. Forced-convection heat and mass transfer in laminar flow, multicomponent energy and mass transfer, free convection, and turbulence are also covered. The appendix summarizes vector and tensor operations and relations involving various coordinate systems.
Based on twenty years of teaching and extensive class testing, Analysis of Transport Phenomena offers students both extensive coverage of the topic and inclusion of modern examples from bioengineering, membrane science, and materials processing. It is mathematically self-contained and is also unique in its treatment of scaling and approximation techniques and its presentation of the finite Fourier transform method for solving partial differential equations.

Small community airport choice behavior analysis: A case study of GTR [An article from: Journal of Air Transport Management]

Small community airport choice behavior analysis: A case study of GTR [An article from: Journal of Air Transport Management] Review

This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Air Transport Management, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The issue of airport selection attracts considerable attention. However, most studies focus on using advanced discrete choice models to analyze airport choice behavior in metropolitan areas with several closely located, competing airports. This paper addresses passengers' choice behavior in selecting between local small community airports and more distant major commercial airport. It looks at factors affecting air travelers' airport choice behavior in cities with small community air service. Data relating to the Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Mississippi is used in logistic regressions to identify the key factors that influence air travelers' airport choices. Ticket price, experience with Golden Triangle Regional Airport and flight schedule were found to be the strongest effects.

Cars: Analysis, History, Cases

Cars: Analysis, History, Cases Review

Through developing an original analytical framework that, for the first time, systematically relates productive, market and financial variables, the authors are able to rewrite the history of the car business since Henry Ford.