Following the growth in global trade activities, vessel traffic has increased dramatically in some busy waterways and ports. However, such increments have made it more complex to manage the regional vessel traffic, which can increase the risk of an accident in the area. To model and analyze the relationship between vessel traffic and maritime traffic, this paper proposes a gridded geography information system (GIS)-based relation analysis model using the historical automatic identification system (AIS) data and accident records over a 10-year-span. Firstly, the extent of the hazards posed by a maritime accident in terms of hull loss, fatality, and direct economic loss is quantified using set pair analysis. Consequently, the hazardous degree posed by an accident is obtained. The relative consequence of the regional hazard (RCORH) is then estimated by summing up all the relative hazardous degrees of accidents that have occurred in a certain gridded area. Secondly, the vessel traffic in the gridded areas is analyzed using characteristics such as speed, heading variance, and traffic volume as indicators. Based on the analysis of both the maritime traffic accidents and the vessel traffic, the spatial relationships are analyzed with an overlay between the RCORH and vessel traffic data of each grid, as well as a regression analysis. In a case study of the Western port of Shenzhen City, China, the methodology proves to be effective for vessel traffic management and traffic engineering design.

This manuscript highlights the approach used to compare the share of fatalities/injuries of a particular mode to its share of Personal (for highway mode) or Passenger (for transit, rail and aviation) Miles Traveled (PMT) compared to the overall multimodal passenger transportation systems. The “shift- share” method is a viable approach to achieve consistent apples-to-apples comparisons. The study shows that aviation and rail are the safest modes for travel between cities, and transit is safer than automobiles for local travel.

The newly launched, June 2009, US High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program has rekindled a renewed interest in forecasting high-speed rail (HSR) ridership. The first step to the concerted effort by the federal, state, rail, and other related agencies to develop a nationwide HSR network is the development of credible approaches to forecast the ridership. This article presents a nested logit/simultaneous choice model to improve the demand forecast in the context of intercity travel. In addition to incorporating the interrelationship between trip generation and mode choice decisions, the simultaneous model also provides a platform for the same utility function flowing between both the decision-making processes. Using American Travel Survey data, supplemented by various mode parameters, the proposed model improves the forecast accuracy and confirms the significant impact of travel costs on both mode choice and trip generation. Furthermore, the cross elasticity of mode choice and trip generation related to travel costs and other modal characteristics may shed some light on transportation policies in the area of intercity travel, especially in anticipation of HSR development.

It is a challenge to develop a business model of commingled operations of freight and non-FRA-compliant passenger rail services because there are no domestic cases of such operations and the number of cases in which freight and light rail transit (LRT) equipment share tracks on a temporal basis of separation is limited. Greater opportunities for commingling may be created, however, because in many domestic cases public passenger transportation and private freight operations share track and there are many proven international experiences with commingled operations of LRT and freight services. This paper identifies and describes the components recommended for inclusion in the business models for both freight railroad operations and public transit agencies for the potential implementation of relevant shared-use operations. These components include shared-use agreements related to costs, capacity, risk sharing, and insurance on the basis of both domestic and international experiences. Building on the experiences of existing shared-use operations and the plans under development, the authors have constructed a business model that can serve as a starting point for future operations.

Highway–rail crossing safety is a critical issue, highlighted by the recently enacted Rail Safety Improvement Act (by the U.S. Congress. This article documents a national survey of peer state agencies as part of the effort to better understand the current issues of highway–rail grade crossing inspection and best practices in vegetation blockage clearance in the visibility triangle. The authors conducted an extensive literature review, in-depth dialogs with a few selected agencies, and focused on case studies to obtain realistic assessments of current practices in highway–rail grade crossing inspections. Potential issues and concerns in the implementation of the Rail Safety Improvement Act are highlighted.