Rail

Response of Regional Rail Park-and-Ride Users to Parking Price Changes: Systemwide Results and a Detailed Study of Two Stations

Sarah Syed
Aaron Golub
Elizabeth Deakin
2009

Traveler response to the introduction of parking user fees at heavily patronized park-and-ride facilities within the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District of California is investigated. After an analysis of systemwide impacts, detailed research at two stations was performed with mail-back surveys, license plate surveys, and focus groups. The primary finding is that introduction of daily parking fees did not cause significant changes in access mode choice, facility location, or line-haul mode of park-and-ride users. New, higher-fee, daily reserved spaces were popular...

Transforming High-Speed Rail Stations to Major Activity Hubs: Lessons for California

2009

This paper presents findings from domestic and international case studies of developments around high-speed rail stations and derives from these findings some lessons for station area development for California’s high-speed rail system. The paper reviews the case for high-speed rail as a complement to air and highway systems in addressing congestion and providing needed additional services as the population of the State continues to grow. Review of domestic and international experiences reveals that well-planned station-area developments can result in desirable impacts on the communities...

Analysis of high-speed rail’s potential to reduce CO2 emissions from transportation in the United States

Andrew Kosinski
Lee Schipper
Elizabeth Deakin
2011

Since the end of World War II, the passenger transportation system in the United States has been heavily based on the automobile for short haul travel and the airplane for long-haul travel. In this paper, we show that there is a growing potential for high speed rail in the United States caused partly by increasing congestion on the existing network and based partly on the higher speeds and higher service capabilities of new technology, high-speed rail. In defining the potential for high-speed rail over the next 40 years, we used two approaches: first, a bottom-up approach in which the...

The Impacts of Infill Rail Transit Stations: Implications for the Shinn Station Proposal

Elizabeth Deakin
Jeremy Halpern
2018

Infill rail transit stations are being implemented to improve access to transit as well as to encourage and support urban development and revitalization efforts. The stations are relatively low-cost because they use existing track and equipment, but costs vary substantially depending on the complexity of the station design and its surroundings. Travel time savings can accrue to passengers using the infill station, but the added stop will increase time for some riders and may necessitate changes in equipment, schedule, or both. Ridership at the infill station depends on the size of the area...

Railroad Classification Yard Throughput: The Case of Multistage Triangular Sorting

Carlos Daganzo
Dowling, Richard G.
Hall, Randolph W.
1983

Procedures for improving the efficiency of classification yard operations are studied in this paper. Multistage sorting strategies make efficient use of land and tracks. Equations are derived giving the service time per car and space requirements of three multistage sorting strategies: the sorting-by-block, the sorting-by-train, and the triangular sorting strategies. Exact service time formulas are given for the first two strategies, and an approximation is given for the last strategy. The approximation, when compared with exact calculations, proved to be quite robust. Errors were on the...

Static Blocking at Railyards: Sorting Implications and Track Requirements

Carlos Daganzo
1986

In this paper, various strategies for minimizing the amount of switching done at a classification yard are examined. We investigate how the allocation of blocks (the sorting classes recognized at the yard) to classification tracks affects switching work. Given are the sorting classes, as well as the schedule and block makeup of the departing trains. Only static strategies are considered—strategies where every block has been assigned permanently to a classification track. Simple formulas are given for the minimum number of tracks needed to implement a strategy, and for the amount of...

Dynamic Blocking for Railyards: Part I. Homogeneous Traffic

Carlos Daganzo
1987

This paper and its companion present a study of railroad classification yard strategies that allow for blocks of destinations to be assigned to classification tracks in different ways, depending on the time of day, week or month. With the same number of tracks, more classifications can be handled by this method. The paper examines homogeneous traffic; that is, traffic patterns where all blocks have the same amount of traffic, where cars for all blocks depart equally frequently from the yard and where the overall traffic flow does not change with time. The results represent the beginning of...

Dynamic Blocking for Railyards: Part II. Heterogeneous Traffic

Carlos Daganzo
1987

Traffic through a railroad yard is said to be heterogeneous if all the destinations are not served with the same frequency. This paper presents a study of railroad yards when traffic is heterogeneous and stationary, that is, without rush hour (or rush day) phenomena. Destinations (blocks) are grouped into categories that are served with the same frequency. The number of blocks and the frequency corresponding to each class are the only traffic characteristics that need to be known to analyze a given yard. With this information it is easy to determine the minimum number of tracks needed, and...

An Operating System for Extra Long Urban Trains

Carlos Daganzo
2022

The paper presents a new method for operating urban railways that, without building any additional infrastructure or significantly changing the passengers’ level-of-service, allows an agency to run trains up to three times longer than existing station platforms and still fill them with passengers. An operating system (OS) underpinning the new method is presented. The only requirement of the rolling stock is that the doors in different parts of each train (e.g., its cars) can be operated independently. The extra-long trains (XLTs) can protrude beyond both ends of the station platforms—in...

Light Rail System Safety Improvements Using ITS Technologies

Chira-chavala, Ted
Coifman, Ben
Empey, Dan
Mark Hansen
Lechner, Ed
Porter, Chris
1997

This report describes research which studied identifying and analyzing the effectiveness of countermeasures designed to reduce light rail crashes. Focus is in collisions with road vehicles at intersections. The light rail system for the Santa Clara County Transportation Agency in California served as the focus of the study.