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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>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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      <title>Track access charge in European railways: comparative approach to improve effectiveness</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2528722</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Track Access Charge (TAC) is a vital component of the railway financial framework, representing the fees that railway operators pay to access and use the railway infrastructure, including tracks, stations, and associated facilities. This charge is conceived to recover costs associated with maintaining, expanding, operating the railway network, while also facilitating equitable access for multiple operators. TAC regulations typically consider various factors, such as train mass, distance traveled, time of the day, type of service to determine the charges. The objective is to create a transparent and fair system that promotes competition, ensures efficient use of the railway network, and ultimately contributes to the sustainability and growth of the rail transportation sector. The present paper is part of a traditional research stream on railway transport economy. It deals with a comprehensive comparative analysis of TAC across 18 European countries. The study aims to provide an in-depth examination of the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of TAC regulations, shedding light on their complex interplay with critical network and capacity variables within the railway market. The methodology is based on quantitative and qualitative parameters, classified into a) capacity management, b) infrastructure and network use. Furthermore, the paper offers a set of recommendations for policymakers, stakeholders, and industry leaders to address the identified challenges and improve the effectiveness of TAC regulations. These recommendations encompass the development of more sophisticated fee models to better address the structure of maintenance and renewal costs paid by the Infrastructure Managers, that TAC is supposed to recover. Their implementation requires an integrated approach, involving Infrastructure Managers and rail undertakings, the adoption of performance-based contracts, the setup of standardized regulations, the need of further research activities focused to better understanding the impacts of TAC regulations on the railway market and identify areas for enhancement of effectiveness.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 20 Jun 2025 11:58:43 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Complex railway systems: capacity and utilisation of interconnected networks</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1435594</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Worldwide the transport sector faces several issues related to the rising of traffic demand such as congestion, energy consumption, noise, pollution, safety, etc. Trying to stem the problem, the European Commission is encouraging a modal shift towards railway, considered as one of the key factors for the development of a more sustainable European transport system. The coveted increase in railway share of transport demand for the next decades and the attempt to open up the rail market (for freight, international and recently also local services) strengthen the attention to capacity usage of the system. This contribution proposes a synthetic methodology for the capacity and utilisation analysis of complex interconnected rail networks; the procedure has a dual scope since it allows both a theoretically robust examination of suburban rail systems and a solid approach to be applied, with few additional and consistent assumptions, for feasibility or strategic analysis of wide networks (by efficiently exploiting the use of Big Data and/or available Open Databases). In particular the approach proposes a schematization of typical elements of a rail network (stations and line segments) to be applied in case of lack of more detailed data; in the authors’ opinion the strength points of the presented procedure stem from the flexibility of the applied synthetic methods and from the joint analysis of nodes and lines. The article, after building a quasi-automatic model to carry out several analyses by changing the border conditions or assumptions, even presents some general abacuses showing the variability of capacity/utilization of the network’s elements in function of basic parameters. This has helped in both the presented case studies: one focuses on a detailed analysis of the Naples’ suburban node, while the other tries to broaden the horizon by examining the whole European rail network with a more specific zoom on the Belgium area. The first application shows how the procedure can be applied in case of availability of fine-grained data and for metropolitan/regional analysis, allowing a precise detection of possible bottlenecks in the system and the individuation of possible interventions to relieve the high usage rate of these elements. The second application represents an on-going attempt to provide a broad analysis of capacity and related parameters for the entire European railway system. It explores the potentiality of the approach and the possible exploitation of different ‘Open and Big Data’ sources, but the outcomes underline the necessity to rely on proper and adequate information; the accuracy of the results significantly depend on the design and precision of the input database. In conclusion, the proposed methodology aims to evaluate capacity and utilisation rates of rail systems at different geographical scales and according to data availability; the outcomes might provide valuable information to allow efficient exploitation and deployment of railway infrastructure, better supporting policy (e.g. investment prioritization, rail infrastructure access charges) and helping to minimize costs for users. The presented case studies show that the method allows indicative evaluations on the use of the system and comparative analysis between different elementary components, providing a first identification of ‘weak’ links or nodes for which, then, specific and detailed analyses should be carried out, taking into account more in depth their actual configuration, the technical characteristics and the real composition of the traffic (i.e. other elements influencing the rail capacity, such as: the adopted operating systems, the station traffic/route control & safety system, the elastic release of routes, the overlap of block sections, etc.).]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 28 Nov 2016 17:15:03 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1435594</guid>
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      <title>Revenue, Finance, Pricing, and Economics</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1343372</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This issue contains 21 papers that explores the modern transportation funding and user-pays principle; road uses charges in Washington state; use of private roads to promote sustainable mobility; economic impacts of a vehicle-miles-traveled fee for passenger vehicles in Nevada; and an express lane performance evaluation; and an examination of paid travel on I-85 Express Lanes.   Other topics include assessing the conversion of I-85 high-occupancy vehicle to a high-occupancy toll in Atlanta, Georgia; a GPS-based assessment of equity impacts of large-scale electronic freeway tolling in Gauteng, South Africa; an evaluation of the Urban Partnership Agreement in Seattle, Washington and its impact on transit; and pay-as-you-drive insurance.   In addition, the papers address: the examination of public-private partnership tenders; local government funding and financing of roads in Virginia; a new tool to understand the value-for-money concepts in public-private partnership options; an option game model for optimizing concession length and public subsidies of public-private partnerships; and financing infrastructure projects using public-private partnerships in India.   Finally, this TRR also explores emerging public-private partnerships in China’s rail mass transit; public-private infrastructure cooperatives; U.S. toll road trends since 1950; tolling initiatives for high-occupancy toll facilities under variable demand; an economic evaluation of trends in travel time reliability in road transportation; and an alternative to the Kentucky weight-distance tax.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 20 Feb 2015 12:01:34 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1343372</guid>
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      <title>Trassenpreissysteme und die Nutzung von Eisenbahninfrastrukturen / A review of the track charging system's impact on the use of railway infrasturctructure facilities</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/938809</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Im Zusammenhang mit der Neuentwicklung eines schweizerischen Trassenpreissystems werden einige grundsaetzliche Ueberlegungen angestellt, welche aktuellen Probleme des Zusammenwirkens von Eisenbahnverkehr und Infrastruktur mit einem entsprechend gestalteten Trassenpreissystem geloest werden koennten. Die Diskussionen um das Trassenpreissystem wurden in der Schweiz unter anderem deshalb ausgeloest, weil dieses heute massgeblich vom Gewicht des Zuges gepraegt ist und damit der Gueterverkehr stark belastet wird. Der Beitrag begruendet Loesungsansaetze aktueller Probleme mittels Trassenpreisansaetzen, soweit dies aufgrund des Gebotes der Einfachheit und Transparenz von Trassenpreisformeln moeglich ist. Es werden grundsaetzliche Ueberlegungen zur Frage angestellt, was ein Trassenpreissystem bezueglich der Nutzung der Infrastruktur durch Zugfahrten bewirken kann, respektive welche Infrastrukturkosten abgebildet werden sollen. ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: In connection with the revision of Switzerland's rail track charging system, a closer examination has been made of how the current problems associated with the interaction of rail transport and infrastructure facilities could be solved with the help of a properly-devised system of track charges. The article shows how a system of incentives may be the solution to the problems arising out of transport carriers' use of the rail infrastructure with regard to capacity constraints, rail tracks' wear-and-tear, and noise levels plus the diverse demands on the quality of the existing infrastructure placed by passenger and freight trains. It is pointed out that incentive schemes should compensate market participants for additional costs caused by any revised rules and any financial rewards should be properly allocated. (A)]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:36:48 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/938809</guid>
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      <title>AN EXAMINATION OF RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE CHARGES - FINAL REPORT FOR THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, DG VII</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/680093</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This report has been prepared for the European Commission by NERA in conjunction with Nomisma, VTI, IVE, ENPC and BPM.  The main objective of the report is to provide input for a Community Code of Conduct on rail infrastructure charging.  Its findings are based on both an examination of the current method (if any) of charging for rail infrastructure in each Member State, and a consideration of general issues related to the construction of charges, the structure of charges and the effect of the charging system.  The report discusses the role and objectives of rail infrastructure charges, efficient pricing in theory, current approaches to infrastructure charging, the funding of rail infrastructure costs, efficient pricing with no cost recovery target, efficient pricing under a cost recovering target, and a community code of conduct.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 07 Jun 2001 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/680093</guid>
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