Economic priorities that enable reliable and attractive railway transportations

Important results from the project

The purpose of the project is to generate knowledge that is necessary to strengthen the attractiveness of the railway system and its ability to provide transport services. The aim is to contribute to a more reliable and cost-efficient railway system that can generate a shift away from modes of transport with a higher carbon footprint. To achieve this, the project has provided new knowledge that can be used to prioritize the measures that best contribute to a resource-efficient railway system.

Expected long term effects

The project has established relationships between asset condition and costs for infrastructure services, as well as between line capacity utilisation and delays. The results also show how allocation of risk in maintenance contracts influences costs, as well as how a certain procurement procedure can contribute to a welfare maximising trade-off between construction and user costs. The results are expected to be used in the prioritization of the measures that best contribute to an efficient railway, as well as contribute to new approaches for implementing infrastructure services.

Approach and implementation

By engaging different disciplines and the industry, the project has established new knowledge based on a combination of engineering and economic models. Contract designs and procurement procedures have also been analysed in order to provide knowledge on how infrastructure services can be implemented in a cost-efficient way, whilst also providing scope for innovations and productivity improvements.