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https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

RAIL PASSENGERS PERCEPTION OF SHAKINGS AND VIBRATIONS. REPORT FROM A STUDY ABOUT PASSENGERS MONETARY VALUATIONS OF TRACK QUALITY

VISST SKAKAR DET - MEN VAD MAERKER RESENAERERNA? RAPPORT FRAAN PERCEPTIONSSTUDIEN INOM PROJEKTET MONETAERA AAKKOMFORTVAERDERINGAR

In 2001 a prestudy about passengers monetary valuations of track quality was made by KTH, VTI and Transek on behalf of the Swedish Rail Administration. The Rail Administration needs valuations as input to social economic calculations of track maintenance. Passengers valuations should ideally be linked to the measures (e.g. Q-scale) for track quality used in Sweden. The research project is divided into two parts: Part one, which is described in this report, deals with passengers perception of shakings and vibrations and part two will investigate the willingness to pay for better track quality. Part one explored rail lines and included interviews and focus groups with rail passengers. These talks showed that shakings and vibrations are not in passengers focus regarding their perceived comfort except for some cases; when the train shakes really hard, or when people get travel sickness in tilting trains. Indirectly the passengers notice the shakings by the noise generated. People claim that this noise is worse than the vibration and shakings in itself. The track quality is given by the measurement made by the Rail Administration. The measurements are shown as deviations in mm and as K- and Q-figures. Vertical and lateral vibrations have been measured by accelerometers. They are shown as ride index or Wz-values (1-5) and as ISO-values (m/s2). The passengers' perception has been collected by handing out handheld computers where perceived vibration level and point of time has been registered simultaneously. Train position was measured by GPS. All data was merged into one data file with track quality, train speed, vibration level and passengers' perceived level. The statistical analysis shows that there are significant correlations between several of these factors, especially where the track standard shows great variance. This is particularly true for a regional line with both joint track and welded track. For the main line Gothenburg-Stockholm the variance in track quality is quite small (Q = 80-100) but the passengers are still capable of feeling the differences between a good and a marginally less good stretch. A prior willingness-to-pay study with SP-method shows that it is possible to derive valuations of marginal differences in track quality dependent on track maintenance. The preliminary valuations in SEK per journey that were estimated are shaky. More interviews under varying conditions and with a stringent design of the interviews are needed. Both pairwise choice SP and contingent valuation (CVM) will be used in part two, during 2004. (A)

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  • Corporate Authors:

    KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLAN, INFRASTRUKTUR

    STOCKHOLM,   Sweden  SE-100 44
  • Authors:
    • FOERSTBERG, J
    • KOTTENHOFF, K
    • Olsson, C
  • Publication Date: 2004

Language

  • Swedish

Media Info

  • Features: References;
  • Pagination: 55 p.
  • Serial:
    • TRITA-INFRA
    • Issue Number: 04-009
    • Publisher: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
    • ISSN: 1651-0216

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00979443
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)
  • ISBN: 91-7323-076-6
  • Files: ITRD
  • Created Date: Oct 6 2004 12:00AM