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Urban mobility is increasingly becoming accepted as a basic human need, as socio-economic opportunities depend on the ability to reach places within an acceptable time. Conversely, the emergence of megalopoleis as dominant features of the global landscape has increased commuting effort to unprecedented levels, due to the ever expanding urban areas and the associated travel distances. This now poses a risk to the efficient accessibility of cities, but there is an assumption that the problem can be overcome by increasing the speed of transport systems. However, advocates of this approach overlook important utility trade-offs that arise from the conflict between greater vehicle speeds and the additional time required to access the services. In this paper, we investigate this approach and show that higher speeds in metro systems do not always result in faster travel in cities. We then propose a new approach to addressing the problem, which culminates in a solution that can overcome the current paradoxes and increase door-to-door speeds more effectively. The resulting operational concept optimizes speed and coverage in urban rail systems in megalopoleis, accommodating the longer trips within time budgets. We position this research as a starting point to a new perspective on developing complex urban systems in the future.
Marcelo Blumenfeld; Clive Roberts; Felix Schmid. Using Radical Innovation to Overcome Utility Trade-Offs in Urban Rail Systems in Megalopoleis. Future Transportation 2021, 1, 154 -168.
AMA StyleMarcelo Blumenfeld, Clive Roberts, Felix Schmid. Using Radical Innovation to Overcome Utility Trade-Offs in Urban Rail Systems in Megalopoleis. Future Transportation. 2021; 1 (2):154-168.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarcelo Blumenfeld; Clive Roberts; Felix Schmid. 2021. "Using Radical Innovation to Overcome Utility Trade-Offs in Urban Rail Systems in Megalopoleis." Future Transportation 1, no. 2: 154-168.
The railway industry needs to investigate overall impacts of next generation signalling systems such as Moving Block (MB) and Virtual Coupling (VC) to identify development strategies to face the forecasted railway demand growth. To this aim an innovative multi-criteria analysis (MCA) framework is introduced to analyse and compare VC and MB in terms of relevant criteria including quantitative (e.g. costs, capacity, stability, energy) and qualitative ones (e.g. safety, regulatory approval). We use a hybrid Delphi-Analytic Hierarchic Process (AHP) technique to objectively select, combine and weight the different criteria to more reliable MCA outcomes. The analysis has been performed for different rail market segments including high-speed, mainline, regional, urban and freight corridors. The results show that there is a highly different technological maturity level between MB and VC given the larger number of vital issues not yet solved for VC. The MCA also indicates that VC could outperform MB for all market segments if it reaches a comparable maturity and safety level. The provided analysis can effectively support the railway industry in strategic investment planning of VC.
Joelle Aoun; Egidio Quaglietta; Rob M.P. Goverde; Martin Scheidt; Marcelo Blumenfeld; Anson Jack; Bill Redfern. A hybrid Delphi-AHP multi-criteria analysis of Moving Block and Virtual Coupling railway signalling. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 2021, 129, 103250 .
AMA StyleJoelle Aoun, Egidio Quaglietta, Rob M.P. Goverde, Martin Scheidt, Marcelo Blumenfeld, Anson Jack, Bill Redfern. A hybrid Delphi-AHP multi-criteria analysis of Moving Block and Virtual Coupling railway signalling. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. 2021; 129 ():103250.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJoelle Aoun; Egidio Quaglietta; Rob M.P. Goverde; Martin Scheidt; Marcelo Blumenfeld; Anson Jack; Bill Redfern. 2021. "A hybrid Delphi-AHP multi-criteria analysis of Moving Block and Virtual Coupling railway signalling." Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 129, no. : 103250.
Low-income countries (LICs) in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are investing in new railway lines to replace deteriorated infrastructure from the 19th and 20th century. These actions, despite financial and economic constraints, have been justified in common visions of continent-wide efficient networks to cope with the demands of growing populations. However, most of the recent rail infrastructure projects are driven by international suppliers’ preferences and financing rather than creating railways that match the requirements of interoperable regional networks. This paper therefore explores the current status of rail infrastructure in these LICs and the operational performance achieved to understand specific capability gaps in each regional network. Drawing from the experience of European countries in transforming regional future visions into applied research, a technical strategy for rail infrastructure in LICs is proposed. The strategy captures the key capabilities to be addressed in order to achieve future performance goals, while emphasizing the need for emerging technologies to be used in fit-for-purpose solutions. It is envisioned that the strategy will provide the basis for the development of continental technical strategy programs with specific technology roadmaps towards a common goal.
Marcelo Blumenfeld; Wendy Wemakor; Labib Azzouz; Clive Roberts. Developing a New Technical Strategy for Rail Infrastructure in Low-Income Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4319 .
AMA StyleMarcelo Blumenfeld, Wendy Wemakor, Labib Azzouz, Clive Roberts. Developing a New Technical Strategy for Rail Infrastructure in Low-Income Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (16):4319.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarcelo Blumenfeld; Wendy Wemakor; Labib Azzouz; Clive Roberts. 2019. "Developing a New Technical Strategy for Rail Infrastructure in Low-Income Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia." Sustainability 11, no. 16: 4319.