Operational efficiency and viability of movement of goods by trains

Marshalling YARD for freight movement by Fright Trains

Introduction

Discussion Paper 2015 • 12

Dejan Makovsek, Vincent Benezech and Stephen Perkins International Transport Forum, Paris, France

The International Transport Forum has produced a series of reports and discussion papers addressing the interrelated issues of railway structure and performance.

Efficiency entails maximizing the outputs from a set of inputs (technical efficiency) or creating an optimal mix of inputs to maximize output (allocative efficiency

Is There a Simple Approach to Assessing Railway Efficiency?

Discussion Paper 2015 • 12

Dejan Makovsek, Vincent Benezech and Stephen Perkins International Transport Forum, Paris, France

The simplest approach would be to derive key performance indicators (KPIs) from published data. Thompson and Bente (2014)

A basic but balanced score card of railway efficiency that would consist of six types of indicators (Bente & Thompson 2014):

system scope; asset utilisation; human resource utilisation; operational performance; financial performance; customer-centric service quality.

Best Operating Industrial Ratio

Discussion Paper 2015 • 12

Dejan Makovsek, Vincent Benezech and Stephen Perkins International Transport Forum, Paris, France

"Better output per employee, more efficient utilization of infrastructure, and improved

locomotive fuel efficiency helped freight railroads attain their best industry operating ratio (78.6%) since World War II. The resulting financial performance, which included a return on equity of 11.3 percent and a return on investment of 10.2%, was a welcome and long-sought

improvement after a disappointing record over the last forty years.

Approaches to enlarge the rail freight marketand improve profitability

Activity-Based Rail Freight Costing

By Gerhard Troche

Stockholm,

Feb 2009

Measures on the technical/operational level and those on organizational/ political level are often to some extent interconnected with each other. The latter are important when it comes to implementing.

Technical improvements refer to changes in the physical resources in the form of wagons, locomotives, etc.

Approaches to enlarge the rail freight marketand improve profitability

Activity-Based Rail Freight Costing

By

Gerhard Troche

Stockholm

Feb 2009

Operational improvements refer to how the physical resources are deployed,

for example how the trains run (routes, speeds, train formation, train lengths, stopping pattern, etc.).

Operation , Maintenance, Management

European Commission

Function of Infrastructu

re Managers

Planning & Developme

ntTo create

New Capacity

Production& Allocation of capacity

Pricing & Marketing of train

Path

Traffic Manageme

nt & Controll

Net work Modernisati

on

Net work Maintena

nce

The Rail Freight Corridors – promoting high quality freight services

European Commission

Rail Freight Corridor sets up common punctuality targets for freight trains, defines and applies joint traffic management and priority rules in order to ensure that these targets are

met, coordinates movement and maintenance works along the corridor to reduce traffic disruptions and monitors traffic performance and customer satisfaction.

Capacity of Rail freight Corridor

National Rail Freight Infrastructure Capacity and Investment Study

The capacity of rail corridors is determined by a large number of factors, including the

number of tracks, the frequency and length of sidings, the capacity of the yards and

terminals along a corridor to receive the traffic, the type of control systems, the terrain,the mix of train types, the power of the locomotives, track speed, and individual

Capacity of Rail freight Corridor

National Rail Freight Infrastructure Capacity and Investment Study

railroad operating practices. Complete, consistent, and current information on all these factors was not available.

The capacity of the corridor was estimated using only the three dominant factors (e.g., number of tracks, type of signal system, and mix of train types

Average Capacities of Archetypical Rail CorridorsTrains per Day

Source: Class I railroads’ data aggregated by Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

Number of Tracks

Type of Control

Trains Per Day

Practical Maximum IfSingle Train TypeUses Corridor**

Practical Maximum IfMultiple Train TypesUse Corridor*

1 ABS 25 18

Volume-to-Capacity Ratios and Level of Service (LOS) Grades

Source: Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

LOS Grade Description

Volume/Capacity Ratio

D Near Capacity

Heavy train flow with moderatecapacity to accommodatemaintenance and recover fromincidents

0.7 to 0.8

Corridors operating at LOS D are operating near capacity; they carry heavy train flows with moderate capacity to accommodate maintenance and recover from incidents.

Practical Capacity in Trains per Day

Source: Class I railroads’ data aggregated by Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

No OF tracks

Conrtol Lower Bound

Upper Bound

1 ABS 18 25

T o be continued