Barriers and Public Policies for Technology Adoption in the EU Railways Sector

The European Union transportation system is under increasing pressure to curb the ever-growing energy consumption levels. The railways sector is no exception, yet, thus far, railways stakeholders’ response has been below expectations. There is the belief that additional public policy could be beneficial. The scope for public intervention is however narrow, as the decision to adopt energy efficient measures is a firm decision (i.e. railways stakeholder) and the EU competition regulation impose strict limits on the scope of public intervention in the markets. This manuscript presents the results of a research aimed to identify public policies to promote the adoption of new energy efficient technologies by the EU railways sector. The research was developed within the scope of an EU co-funded research project. A new approach to support public policy design is proposed. The approach establishes a relationship between public policies and technology adoption. The relationship is based on four nodal points and three connections, as follows: between technologies and railways stakeholders, between railways stakeholders and barriers and between barriers and public policies. A comprehensive list of eighteen barriers to technology adoption organised in six domains were identified: regulatory aspects, political context and societal factors, shortage of resources, practical or technological limitations, stakeholders’ strategies and the market. Finally, the authors propose nineteen public policy measures.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AR030 Standing Committee on Railroad Operating Technologies.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Reis, Vasco
  • Macário, Rosário
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2016-1-10 to 2016-1-14
• Date: 2016

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 20p
• Monograph Title: TRB 95th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Energy conservation; Public policy; Railroad transportation; Railroads; Stakeholders; Technological innovations
• Geographic Terms: European Union countries
• Subject Areas: Policy; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01594449
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 16-2467
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 24 2016 10:48AM