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Freight transport CBA

The latest winters have caused problems for freight transport in Sweden. The vulnerability of the system is exemplified by the derailment in Götinge (between Långsele and Bräcke) on 17 January 2011, which led to a two day stop at the SSAB steel mill in Borlänge. Another example is the closure of the marshalling yard in Hallsberg for two weeks in January/February 2010, which affected most of the goods from northern Sweden on the way to the continent. The subsequent discussion is about how well the freight transport is captured in the socioeconomic calculations, i.e. within cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of infrastructure investment and maintenance. Voices have been raised that there are major flaws. Such errors would mean that important freight-related investments are undervalued in the calculations. This study set out to provide an overview of how well the benefits and costs related to the transport of goods are reflected in the economic calculations. Sweden has a long tradition and a well-developed methodology to use CBAs in government infrastructure planning. Swedish infrastructure is primarily state funded, which means that the link between buyers and sellers is not direct. It is up to politicians to assess the demand for and potential benefits of transport. CBA is a tool to quantify the benefits to society of an infrastructure investment and compare it to the cost. If the benefits outweigh costs, it is justified to build/improve. The unit values for travel time savings and improved reliability used in the calculations are set by ASEK, an independent working group. The underlying transport forecasts and causes of effects are the responsibility of the Swedish Transport Administration. One big benefit post in these calculations is time savings, i.e. that people and goods will arrive faster than before thanks to a new/improved road or railway. To estimate these values, appraisal studies focus on how people value that they arrive earlier or companies that their goods arrive earlier. Basically, answering the question how much money you are willing to pay to reduce transport time by e.g. an hour? It is reasonable to believe that willingness to pay differs between different persons and companies. The discussions after the problematic winters have been about how companies value reliability of the infrastructure and if these values are incorporated in the CBAs. The concept of reliability is to avoid delays and cancellations, i.e. to be able to trust that transports go according to plan. This is especially important for freight transport, as companies, to a great extent, build multimodal logistics chains. This study shows that reliability in today's CBAs is not used in an adequate way. The Swedish Transport Administration, responsible for the development of the CBAs, is aware of this problem. Two pilot projects have recently been started carried out by WSP and VTI. In addition, the Swedish Transport Administration has started a project to gather information on freight valuation based on the industries’ opinions, the so called business impact statement (FKB). The purpose is to complete the CBAs with illustrative examples. 8 VTI notat 3-2013 This method is being tested in the beginning of 2013 and will be evaluated. However, some principal problems can be pointed out ex ante. A fundamental problem is that the FKB will serve as a complement and not as an included part of the CBA. Another problem is that only a small number of stakeholders have an opportunity to influence the FKB. In closure, this paper has shown that current application of the CBA has shortcomings regarding freight transports. The problem is that all the relevant benefits are not included in an adequate way. More generally, there is also a lack of information about causes of effects, i.e. how different investments affect duration, transport reliability (monetary valuation inclusive) and transportation costs. In addition, transparent information on transport volumes is missing. The way forward for strengthening the CBA treatment of freight should be to further develop these three aspects. It is of great importance that the development of reliability is made as an integral part of the calculations.

Language

  • Swedish

Media Info

  • Pagination: 41
  • Serial:
    • VTI NOTAT
    • Issue Number: 3-2013
    • Publisher: Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01558018
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)
  • Files: ITRD, VTI
  • Created Date: Mar 27 2015 12:03PM