ECONOMIC CHOICE OF RAILWAY TRACTION
A detailed explanation of the problem of choice between electric and diesel traction, viewed from all aspects. The optimum solution is reached by defining the following factors: defining output of railway services, expressed in tonne/km per day or year, without attempting to differentiate between the commodities; determination of "inputs", which include initial investment costs (heavier for electric traction) maintenance (heavier for diesel), relative performance and availability, economic life, operating costs (oil or electricity costs); finding out the true "social cost" of the inputs to the national economy by eliminating distortions in the market prices to give "accounting prices"; final selection of the form of traction by "optimisation process", through mathematical programming to arrive at the "minimum cost" solution. He also mentions in passing "externalities" difficult to quantify, such as effect on environment and time saving.
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Supplemental Notes:
- Proceedings of the International Conference on Transportation Research, Bruges, Belgium, June 1973.
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Corporate Authors:
International Conference on Transport Research
Bruges, Belgium -
Authors:
- Majundar, J
- Conference:
- Publication Date: 1973-6
Media Info
- Features: References; Tables;
- Pagination: p. 834-848
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Capital investments; Diesel locomotives; Economic analysis; Energy consumption; Fuel consumption; Investments; Locomotives; Mathematical models; Railroad electrification; Socioeconomic factors; Vehicle maintenance
- Old TRIS Terms: Energy requirements; Locomotive maintenance
- Subject Areas: Economics; Energy; Maintenance and Preservation; Railroads; Society;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00127008
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: International Railway Documentation, Selection of
- Report/Paper Numbers: Proceeding
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Nov 18 1975 12:00AM