Impact of the Railway Infrastructure Revitalization Projects on the Severity of Occurrences

Abstract

Revitalization of railways represents a very important part of the railway infrastructure development. Railway infrastructure reconstruction and revitalization projects bring a number of positive impacts - benefits in addition to the negative impacts of temporary traffic restrictions or often relatively high investment costs. While benefits in terms of operating cost savings, reduced transport time or mitigation of negative environmental impacts are commonly included in the economic analysis evaluating the economic efficiency of the project, the benefits resulting from improving safety and reliability of the railway infrastructure, which are also associated with the modernization of the railway infrastructure, are currently not included in the economic analyses. The paper is focused on the presentation of a partial output of the research project, which deals with the evaluation of increasing railway infrastructure safety and reliability due to the implementation of railway infrastructure revitalization projects. The presented part of the research deals with the evaluation of the implementation impact of the railway revitalization project on the safety and reliability of railway operation and focuses on empirical verification of the basic assumption that the implementation of the railway revitalization project, including modernization of signalling systems, will reduce the incidence of occurrences in terms of their number and severity. Methodologically, the research is based on a comparison of the situation before and after the implementation of the railway infrastructure revitalization project. Specifically, the research focuses on the change in the incidence of occurrences and their economic impacts, including impacts on public health, operating costs, damage amount, as well as impacts on the traffic flow and potential delay, due to the implemented measures increasing the railway infrastructure safety and reliability which form a common part of the railway infrastructure revitalization projects. The results are expressed in monetary units and are drawn from and presented on the two pilot railway infrastructure revitalization projects.Revitalization of railways represents a very important part of the railway infrastructure development. Railway infrastructure reconstruction and revitalization projects bring a number of positive impacts - benefits in addition to the negative impacts of temporary traffic restrictions or often relatively high investment costs. While benefits in terms of operating cost savings, reduced transport time or mitigation of negative environmental impacts are commonly included in the economic analysis evaluating the economic efficiency of the project, the benefits resulting from improving safety and reliability of the railway infrastructure, which are also associated with the modernization of the railway infrastructure, are currently not included in the economic analyses. The paper is focused on the presentation of a partial output of the research project, which deals with the evaluation of increasing railway infrastructure safety and reliability due to the implementation of railway infrastructure revitalization projects. The presented part of the research deals with the evaluation of the implementation impact of the railway revitalization project on the safety and reliability of railway operation and focuses on empirical verification of the basic assumption that the implementation of the railway revitalization project, including modernization of signalling systems, will reduce the incidence of occurrences in terms of their number and severity. Methodologically, the research is based on a comparison of the situation before and after the implementation of the railway infrastructure revitalization project. Specifically, the research focuses on the change in the incidence of occurrences and their economic impacts, including impacts on public health, operating costs, damage amount, as well as impacts on the traffic flow and potential delay, due to the implemented measures increasing the railway infrastructure safety and reliability which form a common part of the railway infrastructure revitalization projects. The results are expressed in monetary units and are drawn from and presented on the two pilot railway infrastructure revitalization projects.