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    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>The Public Response to the Secretary of Transportation’s Rail Services Report: Rail Service in the Midwest and Northeast Region Volume III: Midwestern States</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2724677</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Volume III of The Public Response to the Secretary of Transportation’s Rail Services Report is the Midwestern States volume of the Rail Services Planning Office’s three-volume summary. The report covers public testimony, written submissions, shipper evidence, state and local comments, and agency responses to the Secretary of Transportation’s 1974 rail service recommendations. Prepared by the Rail Services Planning Office of the Interstate Commerce Commission for the United States Railway Association, the report covers Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan; and also includes testimony from areas outside the statutory Northeast and Midwest Region. The volume organizes the public record by state, DOT service zone, and individual railroad line, following the same structure used in the Secretary’s rail service report. It documents local and institutional responses to proposed abandonments, potentially excess line designations, and local service recommendations, with particular attention to agricultural traffic, industrial plant access, coal and steel movements, grain elevators, port and Great Lakes connections, highway diversion, passenger-service proposals, energy use, environmental effects, employment impacts, and the consequences of substituting truck service for rail service. In the broader 3R Act process, Volume III functioned as an evidentiary bridge between the Secretary’s initial rail service recommendations and USRA’s Preliminary and Final System Plans, developing line-specific information that could affect decisions about inclusion in Conrail, preservation through subsidy, transfer to other operators, or abandonment. Overall, the report shows how national rail restructuring policy was contested and refined through local economic evidence from Midwestern stakeholders, where rail service needs were closely tied to manufacturing, agriculture, regional freight flows, and community development.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:06:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2724677</guid>
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      <title>The Public Response to the Secretary of Transportation’s Rail Services Report: Rail Service in the Midwest and Northeast Region, Volume I: New England States</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2720098</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Volume I of The Public Response to the Secretary of Transportation’s Rail Services Report is part of a three-volume Rail Services Planning Office report summarizing public testimony, written submissions, shipper evidence, state and local concerns, and agency comments on the Secretary of Transportation’s 1974 rail service recommendations. Volume I covers the New England portion of the 3R Act region: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Prepared by the Rail Services Planning Office of the Interstate Commerce Commission for the United States Railway Association, the report organizes the public record by state, DOT service zone, and individual rail line. It documents local responses to proposed abandonments, excess-line designations, and service recommendations, including concerns about industrial dependence on rail, forest-products and agricultural traffic, access to Canadian rail connections, passenger-service proposals, energy efficiency, environmental effects, and the economic consequences of losing rail service. In the broader 3R Act process, the report served as an evidentiary bridge between the Secretary’s initial rail service plan and USRA’s later Preliminary and Final System Plans. Rather than proposing a complete restructuring plan of its own, Volume I captured the public and institutional response that USRA was expected to consider when determining which lines should be included in Conrail, preserved through subsidy, transferred to other operators, or abandoned. Overall, the report illustrates how national rail restructuring policy was tested against local economic dependence on rail service in the New England states.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 19 Jul 2026 19:13:11 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2720098</guid>
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      <title>Evaluation of the U.S. Railway Association's Preliminary System Plan: Supplemental Report</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2711602</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The U.S. Railway Association’s (USRA's) Preliminary System Plan established the proposed structure for Conrail and related rail-service changes, after which the Rail Services Planning Office (RSPO) of the Interstate Commerce Commission issued its own April 1975 evaluation of that plan. Because the Erie Lackawanna Railway entered the Regional Rail Reorganization Act restructuring process only after the original Preliminary System Plan was already far advanced, USRA then issued a supplement addressing Erie Lackawanna light-density lines and coordination projects. This June 1975 supplemental RSPO report evaluates that Erie Lackawanna supplement through public testimony, coordination-project review, light-density line analysis, and subsidy analysis. The report shows that public response was dominated by concern over proposed light-density line abandonments. Witnesses criticized USRA’s branch-line profitability methodology, questioned the accuracy of its data, and argued that the plan gave insufficient weight to community, economic, environmental, energy, and passenger-service impacts. The report also documents substantial public interest in preserving competitive rail service, maintaining commuter and potential passenger corridors, protecting industrial access, and retaining railroad rights-of-way for future public use. Its broader significance lies in showing how the Conrail planning process incorporated public participation and independent review into a major rail restructuring, helping ensure that decisions about line retention, abandonment, competition, and subsidy support were evaluated not only as financial questions, but also as transportation, economic-development, and public-interest issues.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 15:40:02 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2711602</guid>
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      <title>Risk-driven decisions in tsunami evacuation: Effects of social and informational cues on car abandonment in a simulator experiment</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2702956</link>
      <description><![CDATA[During the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, widespread car-based tsunami evacuation caused severe traffic congestion and secondary fatalities. Although official guidance discourages automobile use, many evacuees still rely on cars, making it essential to understand when and why drivers abandon vehicles and switch to walking. The authors developed a tsunami evacuation simulator that enables participants to evacuate by car and, if desired, abandon the vehicle and continue on foot. Using a within-subject 2 x 4 design, the authors examined one social cue (preceding driver abandonment: present/absent) and two informational cues (display of tsunami arrival time and/or remaining distance to safety) across eight evacuation scenarios completed by 27 licensed drivers. Vehicle abandonment was infrequent but occurred predominantly after participants observed the preceding driver abandon the vehicle, suggesting that the social cue of another driver’s abandonment was more strongly associated with switching from car evacuation to walking than the informational cues examined here. In contrast, the informational cues did not directly increase the probability of abandonment; however, displaying the tsunami arrival time was associated with shorter total evacuation times among abandonment cases and may have influenced when participants switched from driving to walking. These findings suggest a two-stage interpretation of vehicle abandonment during tsunami evacuation: socially observable behavior may serve as a trigger for abandoning the car, whereas controlled urgency-related information may be associated with the timing of that transition. This interpretation should be understood within the scope of a simplified simulator design.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2026 10:48:18 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2702956</guid>
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      <title>Timing of emergency shipboard abandonment decision: an integrated DEMATEL and ANP approach</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2640678</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The emergency shipboard abandonment decision is critical for the safety of seafarers, passengers, and the environment. Within the conventions established by the International Maritime Organisation, the captain is expected to order the ship's abandonment if a life-threatening hazard persists despite all necessary precautions. This study aims to prioritise the factors that may affect the timing of the abandonment decision, using an integrated DEMATEL and ANP approach. The findings reveal that the captain's experience and the psychological pressure they face are critical in the timing of the decision. In conclusion, assessing the timing of shipboard emergency abandonment decisions necessitates the integration of both tangible and intangible aspects, acknowledging the complex interplay between objective data and subjective human elements inherent in crises. Therefore, by identifying the factors and understanding their influence on the decision-making process, more effective emergency procedures can be developed.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:47:16 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2640678</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Investigating Abandonment Errors in Cruise/Passenger Ships: Researching the Reasons Leading to Life-Losses During an Evacuation</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2310048</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Over the course of time and under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), safety at sea has significantly increased. Numerous regulations have been adopted in an effort to increase safety standards onboard ships and reduce the probability of accidents. Unfortunately, abandonment procedures still remain at large inefficient. A very indicative example is provided by the evacuation of Costa Concordia, which lasted more than 6 hours, although the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) dictates this type of operation should not exceed 30 minutes. This research effort aims to provide a clear understanding to the causes behind the inefficiencies and flaws existing in the current evacuation procedures. By deploying a qualitative method, causes behind the accidents and how these can affect the abandonment process will be explored; contributions of the human element and how the psychological/behavioral attributes of people can affect the outcome of an evacuation will be included. Finally, the design of passenger/cruise ships will be discussed in an attempt to identify possible areas of improvement.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 22 Dec 2023 08:46:58 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2310048</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>When Is Abandonment Not an Option? Dealing with PPP Contract and Government Interests</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2040521</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Pricing techniques are crucial to value embedded flexibilities in public-private partnership (PPP) projects. These flexibilities can be seen as options, which can add significant value to PPP contracts. Even when PPP contract is clearly understood by the parties, uncertainties are commonly not well measured. The authors developed a real option model to value the flexibility of sequential investments associated with an imbedded option to abandon the project. The capital expenditure of the PPP project is the main uncertainty of the model, which follows a geometric Brownian motion process. In intuition behind the model is based on recently unsuccessful PPP projects in Brazil, in which set the abandonment fees too high and its scare private investors away; set them too low and private investors may abandon the project more often than desired. The authors apply the model to a broadband infrastructure project conducted by the state government of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to attract private partners to the bidding process. The authors calculated the value of the real option to be US$9.09 million, which represents up to a 31% increase over the value of the baseline project obtained by the DCF analysis. The authors also simulated the probability to abandon the project as a function of the penalty fee and CAPEX volatility. The project risk perception were simulated considering the probability of project abandonment, which achieved 12.5% in the first year and it decreases substantially in the next four years of the construction phase; it is less than 0.5% in the 2nd year and less than 0.7% in the 3rd year. The probability to abandon the project at years 4 and 5 are virtually zero. This model can allows governmental policy-makers to design PPP projects with the most appropriate penalty fee schedule and provides a quantitative tool to disincentive the abandonment of the concessionaire in PPP projects.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:25:31 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2040521</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Development of Potential Strategies for Unmarked and Low Traffic Volume Roadways in Illinois</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2232078</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The present study was initiated by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to better understand characteristics of roadway segments categorized as unmarked in IDOT’s Transportation Asset Management Plan and to suggest recommendations to manage, vacate, abandon, retain, or transfer individual routes. The researchers developed a methodology, labeled JARM, to identify potential candidates for jurisdictional transfer, abandonment (or vacation), reconfiguration, or maintenance. The JARM methodology is an easy-to-use and stand-alone spreadsheet tool for IDOT districts. It includes all unmarked routes as well as their key database variables and visual attributes. The study identified that over 90% of unmarked route centerline mileage is recommended for jurisdictional transfer to move off IDOT’s inventory and to be better served by local agencies, while reducing maintenance costs and future funding needs. To identify maintenance strategies for unmarked routes and low-volume roads, the researchers reviewed best practices of various state agencies and developed treatment catalogues for rural and urban routes. Additionally, they conducted two surveys: (1) a survey of other state DOTs to understand management of similar routes and (2) a survey of local public agencies within Illinois to understand their familiarity and willingness to accept unmarked routes. Twenty-five DOTs responded to the survey to provide insight into how they manage similar routes. The results demonstrated that 70% of local public agency respondents were amenable to a discussion of jurisdictional transfer. The next logical step is to build off this network-level research and to identify execution strategies at the project level in the most cost-effective manner.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 31 Aug 2023 10:11:27 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2232078</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Assessment of the Legal Regime for Protecting Abandoned Seafarers: A Study in Light of the 2006 Maritime Labour Convention</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2213624</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Abandonment is a significant challenge that seafarers face today. The number of seafarer abandonment instances has increased between 2020 and 2021, and dealing with this issue has become a major concern for policymakers. In 2021, in total, 1,399 seafarers on 94 vessels were abandoned. The 2006 Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) was amended in 2014 to include provisions for protecting abandoned seafarers. Newly inserted provisions established a financial security system for assisting seafarers in a seafarer abandonment situation. Although today the MLC incorporates this mechanism to protect abandoned seafarers, the issue of abandonment of seafarers continues to persist, and the time consumed in resolving these cases is sometimes very long. This article assesses the effectiveness of the financial security system under the MLC in granting protection to abandoned seafarers. It highlights the current regime's flaws and how the regime can be improved.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 28 Aug 2023 09:34:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2213624</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Emerging State Rail Issues: Implications for Rail Planning in North Dakota</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1969835</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This study examines some of the most significant new rail issues facing the state of North Dakota, and their ramifications for future rail policy. The study finds that: 1) the state of North Dakota should advocate alternatives to rail abandonment; 2) rail banking should be used when the possibility of future growth is perceived in areas served by abandoned lines; 3) policy encouraging future rail car purchases is needed to prevent future rail car supply problems; and 4) the importance of rail preservation is amplified by the condition of rural roads and bridges.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 07 Jun 2022 11:04:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1969835</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Rail Line Abandonment</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1901268</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper discusses rail line abandonments in North Dakota and the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) Abandonment Application Process.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 15 Jan 2022 18:32:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1901268</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Analysis of Short Line Railroad Development and a Case Study of the Casselton-Marion Branch Line in North Dakota</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1901269</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This study explores the implications of branch line abandonment and the short line railroad alternative.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 15 Jan 2022 18:32:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1901269</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Issue Concerning Transfers of Wealth as a Result of State Rail Freight Assistance Programs</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1897274</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Section 803 of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1975 as amended in 1979 provides for public financial assistance to states on an 80/20 matching basis for state rail freight assistance programs. The program is a direct result of the financial condition of the railroad industry and the corresponding current disinvestment that is taking place in the form of abandonment of branch lines and occasionally main lines.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 05 Jan 2022 18:11:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1897274</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>North Dakota Line Segment Analytical Model - A Technical Description</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1895094</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This report presents a technical description of the North Dakota Line-Segment Analytical Model (NOLAM) - a model developed to analyze the benefits and costs associated with rehabilitation of line-segments within the state.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 03 Jan 2022 11:45:50 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1895094</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Preliminary Analysis of CNW's Nebraska Rail Line, Volumes I and II</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1892967</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This study analyzes the various issues and impacts surrounding the potential abandonment of the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company's railroad line between Chadron and Norfolk, Nebraska. This 317.5 mile Northern Line serves the northern third of the state from Madison to Dawes. Volume I contains the main body of the report and Volume II contains the Technical Addenda.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 07 Dec 2021 18:43:16 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1892967</guid>
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