While largely due to conditions outside their control, the configuration and setting of current intermodal rail terminals contribute to congestion and increased freight handling volumes that have resulted in additional transportation costs for shippers and carriers. Although a substantial body of research has focused on improving the efficiency of port operations and multi-modal freight shipmen...

One of the primary sources of information and inspiration in the creation of new, more secure solutions in traffic organization are the occurrences with most serious consequences called accidents (air), serious accidents (rail) or catastrophes (road, sea). Accidents investigation is usually conducted in terms of searching for the reasons of these events and ...

This study of environmental equity uses secondary quantitative data to analyze socioeconomic disparities in environmental conditions in the Rijnmond region of the Netherlands. The disparities of selected environmental indicators--exposure to traffic noise (road, rail, and air), NO(2), external safety risks, and the availability of public green space--are analyzed both separately and in combinat...

Under the background of urban rail transit’s rapid development, urban rail transit station, as the only connection of urban space and rail transit, undertakes the responsibility of traffic organization and passenger volume distribution. Influenced urban realm around station becomes the focus of the optimization of the sustainable urban development. Pedestrian microscopic simulation method estab...

The North American freight railroad network is projected to experience rising transportation demand in the coming decades, leading to increased congestion along many rail corridors. Increased interest in expanded passenger service on shared rail corridors will also create additional capacity demand. However, the nation’s rail lines are still predominantly single track with passing sidings, maki...

Rail inspection is a very important task in railway maintenance for traffic safety issues and in preventing dangerous situations. Monitoring railway infrastructure is an important aspect in which the periodical inspection of rail rolling plane is required. Up to the present days the inspection of the railroad is operated manually by trained personnel. A human operator walks along the rail track...

1The State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety, Beijing Jiaotong University, No. 3 Shang Yuan Cun, Haidian District, Beijing 100044, China 2National Institute of Metrology, No. 18 North Sanhuan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100013, China 3Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Carolina, 3A28 Swearingen Engineering Center, 301 South Main Street, Columbia, SC 2...

In recent years, with half the world’s population living in towns and cities and most of them relying heavily on public transport to meet their mobility needs, efficient and effective public transport operations have become critical to sustainable economic and social development. Nowadays, Light Rail Transit Systems are considered to be the most promising technological approach to satisfy these...

Ultrasonic techniques have been used for many years for the inspection of rail. These measurements can detect the presence of a wide variety of defects but there are practical difficulties with the technology. While large transverse cracks of the type likely to cause catastrophic failure can be detected, the large, critical defects can be masked by large numbers of small, surface defects along ...