New urban developments and commuter rail: Madrid case study

Load Quantification for Light Rail, Heavy Rail, and Commuter Rail Transit Infrastructure

The type and magnitude of loads passing through the track superstructure have a great impact on both the design and the performance of concrete sleepers and fastening systems. To date, the majority of North American research focusing on quantifying rail infrastructure loading conditions has been conducted on heavy-haul freight railroads. However, the results and recommendations from these studi...

Urban Remote Sensing: New Developments and Trends

Due to the high spatial resolution requirements for urban information systems, aerial photography has been used as standard imaging input. The advent of new satellites with a resolution of better than 1m (e.g., IKONOS, Quickbird) and digital airborne scanners with excellent geometric fidelity and high spatial resolutions in the cm range (e.g., HRSC, ADS, DMC), however, challenges the analog air...

Analysis of Trends in Commuter Rail Energy Efficiency

Commuter rail systems are widely regarded as an effective transportation alternative to reduce energy consumption and emissions in large urban areas. Use of commuter rail systems in the United States is on the rise, with annual ridership increasing by 28 percent between 1997 and 2007 [1]. With growing concerns about the sustainability and environmental impacts of transportation, modal energy ef...

High-speed Rail Systems and Tourists’ Destination Choice: the Case Studies of Paris and Madrid

The analysis of how tourists select their holiday destinations along with the factors determining their choices is very important for promoting tourism. In particular, transportation is supposed to have a great influence on the tourists’ decisions. The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of High Speed Rail (HSR) systems with respect to a destination choice. Two key tourist destinations...

Evaluation of Social Instability in Urban Developments, Case Study: Ghaleh Abkooh’s Renewal Plan