The Ferrobonus Incentive for Achieving Modal Shift to Rail: A Socio-Economic Evaluation
Within a wide range of rail freight strategies for mainly mitigating the increasing road congestion, “Ferrobonus” was introduced in Italy, as an incentive that supports intermodal road-rail transportation. It constitutes a financial scheme that introduces subsidies per train-kilometer with the scope to reduce the incurring external costs from road transportation by promoting the use of electrified rail for at least part of a journey. Although Ferrobonus was implemented in 2010, only preliminary results have been obtained, while little work has been undertaken to examine its incentivization effect and related benefits. Nevertheless, there are certainly lessons to be learned from any incentive that focuses on the demand side, without distorting competition to an extent contrary to the common interest. To this end, the present paper develops a methodology whose scope is to ascertain whether Ferrobonus can be proven effective and beneficial in other countries and markets. The proposed approach entails a forecasting methodology for estimating the modal shift to rail, generated by the introduction of the subsidy on a single intermodal road-rail route, as well as a socio-economic appraisal that determines the viability of its related subsidy, quantifying the net benefit to the national economy and society in general. The methodology is targeted at national authorities and policy makers that are willing to evaluate the appropriateness of adopting policy interventions of financial subsidies similar to the Ferrobonus conceptual model, in order to promote and retain growth in the rail freight sector and secure the full range of its applicable environmental and social benefits.
-
Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AR040 Freight Rail Transportation.
-
Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Tsamboulas, Dimitrios
- Chiappetta, Andrea
- Karousos, Iosif
- Moraiti, Panayota
-
Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
- Date: 2015
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 16p
- Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Forecasting; Freight transportation; Incentives; Intermodal transportation; Modal shift; Policy; Railroads; Socioeconomic factors; Subsidies
- Geographic Terms: Italy
- Subject Areas: Economics; Freight Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; I10: Economics and Administration; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01556966
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 15-2839
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Mar 14 2015 3:59PM