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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Railways'
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1
Hussein, Mohammed Farouk Mohammed. "Vibration from underground railways." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2004. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/272112.
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Tarran, Peter. "Britain's railways and the State, 1908-21 : origins of the Railways Act, 1921." Thesis, Kingston University, 2004. http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/20737/.
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This thesis provides a fresh assessment of the 1921 Railways Act by examining its origins, nature and significance, with special reference to the perspectives of railway officials and others directly involved after 1908, across a period encompassing the cataclysmic experience of the Great War. At a time of growing concern about domestic political stability and the British economy's international competitiveness, the railway industry entered a new phase. Its commercial outlook became increasingly uncertain. The network was mature and losing local traffic to flexible new transport technologies. Gross revenues continued to grow, but were outpaced by costs. Money markets demanded higher returns, making capital expenditure problematic. Inevitably, the industry's huge capital debt and parliament's perceived role in helping to generate it, along with the railway industry's commercial drives and management practices, came under intense scrutiny. Working within a rigid regulatory regime, last amended in 1894, and burdened by nineteenth century statutory obligations and perceptions, companies strove to maintain margins by cooperative agreements and other means that led to a deteriorating relationship with customers. Moreover, the railway industry's labour force, seeking equality with capital, became more militant, as evidenced by the 1911 national strike. Within this context, the Asquith Government finally accepted the shortcomings of the existing regulatory framework, and in 1913 established a Royal Commission, chaired by Lord Loreburn, to reappraise the industry's relationship with the state, even its nationalisation. However, the outbreak of war stopped the commission's work prematurely. The Great War brought the railway companies under government control for an unexpectedly long duration. By its end there was wide agreement that their condition, caused by wartime operations without concern for commercial considerations, prevented their immediate return to their proprietors. The resettlement process, between 1919 and 1921, created an opportunity for reform denied in 1914, and particularly for Sir Eric Geddes to influence the outcome through his 1920 White Paper, which relied on improving the industry's efficiency to validate its radical changes. The Act's dual intent, resettlement and reform, was highly constrained by the intractable nature of the industry's pre-war commercial weaknesses, and the economic circumstances and national mood of the post-war period.
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Cederlund, Harald. "The microbiology of railway tracks : towards a rational use of herbicides on Swedish railways /." Uppsala : Department of Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2006. http://epsilon.slu.se/200644.pdf.
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Gillies-Smith, Andrew Stuart. "Optimising Britain's railways : economic perspectives." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2018. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/22427/.
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Great Britain has a railway industry which appears to be a rare case study within an international context. The market has been privatised and restructured, with multiple companies operating freight and passenger services on a network managed by a single infrastructure manager - Network Rail. The reforms introduced by Great Britain between 1994 and 1997 are some of the fastest and widest undertaken across the world. Britain has adopted an incentivisation mechanism to ensure the infrastructure manager and operators perform in terms of punctuality and reliability. The incentive mechanism is referred to as Schedule 8. The industry offers a valuable case study for other railway industries internationally and, particularly, within the European Union (EU). The EU has issued Directives to their member states to require their railways to reform in a similar manner to the British railway industry. The Directives also require member states to adopt incentive mechanisms to ensure the infrastructure manager performs. As more countries are likely to open-up their railway markets to competition, the British case study offers evidence on the effects of performance on social welfare in a market open to such competition. In this thesis report, evidence is generated to demonstrate the value of punctuality and reliability within the British market structure. The effect of performance on different industry stakeholders is considered and evaluated to derive an understanding of the marginal social welfare effects resulting from changes in performance. It is believed that this research is the first attempt in the literature to reconcile the effects of performance on the demand and supply-sides of the railway industry; one of the earliest to estimate and discuss Extended Generalised Journey Time (EGJT) elasticities; and is a rare study in investigating the effects of a performance incentive mechanism.
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Maňák, Ondřej. "Principy vyrovnávání výkonů hnacích vozidel zahraničních železničních dopravců." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2010. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-74518.
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This diploma thesis "Principles of Equalizing the Tractions-engines Power Output of Foreign Provider of Railway Services" aims to delineate how inequalities in power output emerge and how they are later equalized by provider of railway services. This is one of the crucial topics for operating and putting together international trains. The theoretical basis is then used in the applied part of this thesis to describe and evaluate tractions-engines power output of selected foreign provider of railway services on Czech railway network. For better description there is also a balance of tractions-engines of power output enclose at the end of this thesis to illustrate the position of Czech Railways abroad. The analysis made in the applied part put stress on differentiating the long distance transport from cross-border international transport of passengers. Furthermore, this thesis deals with the implementation of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) in the connection with compatibility of the Czech railway network to neighbouring rail networks with emphasis on train safety appliances and the project European Train Control System (ETCS).
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Cozza, Andrea. "Railways EMC : Assessment of Infrastructure Impact." Phd thesis, Université des Sciences et Technologie de Lille - Lille I, 2005. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00533672.
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During the last three decades, electronic devices have conquered the railway domain, taking the place previously held by electromechanical devices, thanks to higher performances and lower costs. The price of this "revolution" is the fact that, in order to work properly and reliably, electronic systems must be fairly immune to the effect of external interferers, while, at the same time, they are not to electromagnetically pollute the environment they work in. These issues are dealt with by electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) whereas several international EMC standardization committees work on the definition of tests and rules the manufacturers must comply with. In the European Union, the reference for EMC issues in the railway domain is set by the CENELEC standard EN 50121, which deals with several aspects of a generic railway system, from the power-supply infrastructure to rolling stocks and signalling circuits. The introduction of this standard in 1996 has had a strong impact on rolling stock manufacturers, who are now required to test their products for EMC compliancy. As opposed to the automotive domain, the testing of trains cannot be performed in standard facilities, such as anechoic chambers, so that they have to be tested on actual railway lines, typically on the customer's. Industrial experience has shown that results obtained in this way are usually site-dependent, something that is against the very idea of a standard. The aim of this work is to prove the importance of the infrastructure in radiated emission tests, showing that the test results are site-dependent, thus subject to misunderstandings and misinterpretations. To this end, the features of a generic railway system are briefly described, pointing out the great variability in actual configurations, together with the absence of standard solutions. Subsequently, the electromagnetic modelling of a railway system is introduced, dealing with both propagation and radiation phenomena; in particular, the main topic here addressed is the modelling of supply-lines, through a quasi-TEM approach. The finite conductivity of the soil is taken into account by means of a closed-form formulation, thus avoiding numerical methods, and overcoming the limitations of Carson's model. Moreover, special attention is paid to discontinuities that would increase the model complexity, proposing approximated descriptions supported by numerical results. Results obtained with this model are then validated through several measurement campaigns carried out on actual railway lines, proving the effectiveness of the approach here pursued. The model is then employed in order to prove that some criteria in the standard EN 50121, specifically introduced in order to avoid site-dependency, are not realistic, thus leaving this issue unresolved. To this end, numerical examples are considered, assessing the impact of the infrastructure by comparing results obtained with realistic site configurations and with the ideal one envisaged by the standard. These comparisons are at the base of a tentative procedure that would allow to avoid the misinterpretations that triggered this work. Unfortunately, this approach requires an accurate description of the test-site. Since this is hardly the case, an alternative experimental characterization of the site is proposed, based on magnetic field measurements. This approach, involving the solution of an inverse problem, is shown to be feasible through a numerical validation, though its practical utilization requires efficient optimization techniques.
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Boullanger, Benjamin. "Modeling and simulation of future railways." Thesis, KTH, Elektriska energisystem, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-119255.
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This master thesis project aims at improving a train power system program which simulates the interaction between a predefined train power supply system structure and a train traffic schedule. The simulator, called TPSS (Train Power System Simulator), is used for training TPSA (Train Power System Approximator) which is included in a larger investment planning program where the welfare of the society is to be maximized. The development of the railway power system implies wise investments that should last a long time. In order to make the good decisions, the consequences of different power system configurations related to the future train traffic demands have to be studied. Aiming at an investment planning in the long term, models and methods used by the simulator for the railway power system and the electric traction devices are of great importance. In this thesis electrical and mechanical models are presented and improvements are discussed thereafter. Moreover methods were modified to improve the accuracy and reduce the simulator running time. Indeed reduction of the computation time is really important when a great variety of cases are studied. In addition some further controls are implemented to obtain more workable and more realistic outcomes. Some bugs are fixed and the former models are changed aiming at a faster computation time and a better quality of the results. Comparisons between the different simulator versions are presented along the report to illustrate the benefits of the changes. Finally a global examination showing impacts of all improvements is performed. As explained the program TPSS intends to participate in a long term investment planning suggestion. The program.s outcomes of several simulations would be extracted to train a Neural Network. The latter will aim at approximating outcomes for other cases avoiding too many simulations and thus saving time.
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Lowndes, Theresa Maria. "Privatisation, rural railways and community development." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2178.
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This thesis examines two separate, but interrelated, issues, namely rail privatisation and rural dependency on the availability of rail transport. The thesis was based on the proposition that rural accessibility permits the development and sustainability of the social and economic lives of a community and that this interrelationship is currently threatened by rail privatisation and the associated risks of line closures or service cutbacks. To test this proposition a thorough investigation into the theory and practice of privatisation was completed, together with a comprehensive survey of the travel arrangements of people living in rural communities served by branch line railways. A variety of research methods were employed, including desk-top studies involving literature searches, qualitative investigations to assist questionnaire design and the use of self-administered questionnaires by sample populations. The empirical results are presented and discussed against the background of introductory chapters which review the policy of privatisation, the evolution of rail privatisation and the role of the rural branch line. The concluding chapters present three different scenarios for the future of rural branch lines, ranging from closure to revitalisation, and outline areas where future research may be carried out. The main findings were that a substantial number of people depend on the branch lines to enable them to carry out a wide variety of journeys and it was concluded that branch line railways do indeed play a vital role in the development and sustainability of the rural community. Furthermore, it was concluded that rail privatisation may indeed pose a threat to the future provision of branch line services and as such could have far-reaching impacts on the future well-being of the rural community.
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Cozza, Andrea Canavero Flavio Démoulin Bernard. "Railways EMC assessment of infrastructure impact /." Villeneuve d'Ascq : Université des sciences et technologies de Lille, 2007. https://iris.univ-lille1.fr/dspace/handle/1908/272.
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Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Électronique : Lille 1 : 2005. Tesi di dottorato : Ingeneria Ellectronica e delle Comunicazioni : Politecnico di Torino : 2005.Thèse en cotutelle. N° d'ordre (Lille 1) : 3635. Texte en anglais. Résumé en français et en anglais. Titre provenant de la page de titre du document numérisé. Bibliogr. p. 145-149.
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Wetzel, Heike Verfasser], and Thomas [Akademischer Betreuer] [Wein. "European Railway Deregulation: Essays on Efficiency and Productivity of European Railways / Heike Wetzel. Betreuer: Thomas Wein." Lüneburg : Universitätsbibliothek der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, 2009. http://d-nb.info/1034147137/34.
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Tornikidis, Nikos. "Extension of the Wilson railway station in Prague : administration and service buildings for the Czech railways." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70224.
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Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1993.Includes bibliographical references (p. 71).
The project of the following design thesis attempted to address some Industrial Design issues (or in this particular case with the design in a semi-industrial environment - railway station) and how such an approach can be incorporated into a city tissue which follows a different pattern of behavior, formally and functionally. An issue that could be looked upon is how the two different, but in this case related, functional areas could coexist, making a railway station part of a city, as it was until the beginning of the 20th century when the notion of mass production was introduced. There are, however, two ways the problem of connecting the two separate entities can be looked upon, which are also identical with the two parts that could be followed when attempting to find a solution. The first part, which is the part attempted to be solved in this project, has to do with the internal problems of the site (station area), how these problems are identified accordingly to the impact the city has on the site, and what solutions can be proposed in order the station to function more as a part of the city than as an entity of its own. After the completion of the first part, the second part of the problem should examine what impact the proposed intervention should have on the city itself, in order an exchange region to be created between the two entities. It should be added, however, that the two aspects can not be considered separately, and therefore when working on any of the two aspects one should consider the implications his or her decision will have on the following actions. The production process started from manufacture production in the 19th century, when railway stations were a part of cities, played major role in their development, and for the most part were also. constructed. After the Second World War railway stations become "servants" of the adopted mass production process, based on scale economies and resource allocation. Their scale changes and the behavior towards the cities that by then surrounded them had become more alien. After the 1980s, however, the new concepts of lean production, flexibility and differentiation brought back some of the characteristic of the manufacture era. Those characteristics are smaller, diversified facilities, tightly related to a particular region and easily adaptable to changes in the environment.
by Nikos Tornikidis.
M.Arch.
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Wetzel, Heike [Verfasser], and Thomas [Akademischer Betreuer] Wein. "European Railway Deregulation: Essays on Efficiency and Productivity of European Railways / Heike Wetzel. Betreuer: Thomas Wein." Lüneburg : Universitätsbibliothek der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, 2009. http://d-nb.info/1034147137/34.
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Fernandes, Tânia Alexandra Anica. "The ways behind the railways: Algarve's railway line. Technique transfers and transport development in Southern Portugal." Master's thesis, Universidade de Évora, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10174/18711.
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Esta dissertação pretende contribuir para um melhor conhecimento da complexidade das
redes de transferência de conhecimentos e técnicas, no domínio da engenharia civil e
mais concretamente através dos caminhos-de-ferro, nos séculos XIX e XX.
Em Portugal, os caminhos-de-ferro estiveram no cerne de um vasto debate, sobretudo
político, concomitante com uma instabilidade crescente no cenário político e uma
fase de fragilidade económica.
É neste contexto que a Linha do Sul e Sueste vai ser construída (seguida pela sua
extensão até Vila Real de Santo António e pela construção do ramal de Portimão, que
chegará a Lagos).
Este empreendimento é uma clara ilustração da realidade portuguesa de então, no que
concerne ao desenvolvimento desta rede de transportes, que nos permite, igualmente,
conhecer e compreender quem interveio no processo de construção da linha (os
engenheiros, as empresas, entre outros aspectos) e assim determinar quais as
influências e transferências técnicas que tiveram lugar; RESUMEE: Cette mémoire attire à la contribution pour une meilleure connaissance de la complexité
des réseaux de transfert de techniques et connaissances qui ont eu lieu dans le
domaine de l’ingénierie civile, surtout dans les chemins de fer, au XIXème et
XXème siècles.
Au Portugal, les chemins de fer sont été le cerne d’un très vaste débat, coïncidant avec
une croissante instabilité dans le scenario politique et aussi une phase économique
fragile. C’est dans ce contexte que la Ligne du Sud et Sud-est va être bâti (suivi par
l’extension jusqu’à Vila Real de Santo António et la construction de
l’embranchement ferroviaire Portimão).
Cette entreprise c’est une illustration claire de la réalité portugaise, en concernant
l’implémentation de cette réseau de transport, que nous permettre de comprendre et
également bien connaitre qui a intervenu dans le processus de construction de la
ligne (les ingénieurs, entreprises, etcetera), ainsi que déterminer les influences et les
transferts techniques qui ont eu lieu; ABSTRACT: With this master’s thesis, the aim is to be able to contribute to a better understanding of
the complex network of technique’s and knowledge transfers, that took place within
the field of civil engineering, in the 19th and 20th centuries, namely on the railways.
In Portugal, railways take-up was a wide and ample debate, coinciding with an uprising
turmoil on the Portuguese political outskirt and a phase of economic frailty. It’s in
this context that the construction of the South and Southeast Line took place
(followed, later on, by its extension until Vila Real de Santo António and by the
construction of the Portimão’s branch).
This enterprise is, as we pretend to prove in this master’s thesis, a clear example of the
Portuguese reality, enabling us to understand and to get to know those who
intervened in the construction’s process (the engineers and the companies) as well as
determining influences and technique transfers that have taken place.
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Utpal, Roy. "Growth and development of railways in North Bengal and its impact on society and economy (1870-1950)." Thesis, University of North Bengal, 2014. http://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/1488.
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Lam, Kwok-chun. "An evaluation of the role of the mass transit railway system in the urban development of Hong Kong 1979-1996 /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1997. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B19130971.
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Michas, Georgios. "Slab track systems for high-speed railways." Thesis, KTH, Väg- och banteknik, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-96507.
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In the last 40 years an increase in train speed and axle load around the world and other challenges in the conventional ballasted track system gave birth to ballastless railway track system. This study examines in depth the various slab track systems that are being used today. Their design characteristics as well as the various requirements for efficient use are thoroughly explained. At least 34 different ballastless systems have been recorded in many railway networks throughout the world. The most significant slab track systems are analysed in detail and compared. Slab track designs have significant advantages comparing to ballasted tracks. The most significant are the high stability of the track, the almost non-existent need for maintenance, the long life cycle (60 years) and the reduced weight and height of the track. Their disadvantages against the ballasted tracks are mainly summarized in their higher construction costs. The Finite Element package ABAQUS/CAE is used to model a 3-D slab track design under static traffic loading. The results suggest that slab tracks have profoundly better stability and durability comparing to ballasted tracks mainly due to their higher stiffness and strength. The author underlines the need for further studies to undoubtedly prove the claimed advantages of slab track systems as well as to improve the costs associated with construction.
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Forrest, James Alexander. "Modelling of ground vibration from underground railways." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.323675.
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Van, Laun John. "Early limestone railways of south-east Wales." Thesis, University of Hull, 1999. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:5875.
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Although in one sense this is a study in regional or local history, its findings have much wider implications which are of national significance. Britain gave to the world the Industrial Revolution and, as a corollary, the railway. Evidence which throws new light on the evolution of railways is therefore of high importance to historians and archaeologists of industry. Such evidence, it is suggested, is presented in this thesis. It relates mainly to the evolution of that most essential component of any railway, its track, and to the industrial archaeology of what was the leading iron-producing region of its day. From the 1790s into the 1840s South Wales and, in particular, the Heads of the Valleys was much the largest producer of iron in Britain. To feed the works with raw materials there was a major system of railroads and tramroads which, except perhaps for the North-eastern coalfield, was by far the most extensive in Britain and therefore in the world. Even the tramroads of Shropshire, though tight-packed, were much smaller in extent. As it turned out, the North-east had the greatest influence on the Railway Age, with South Wales not remaining in the vanguard of progress for long. However, it was in South Wales that the first all-iron edge rail was used, and South Wales developed the tramroad to its highest form. Here too, among the precursors of the Railway Age, elements of the public railway were forged. There are three components to the South Wales network. First, the feeders which ran from the limestone quarries of the northem outcrop to the furnaces can be followed for about 100km in total. Although a fair proportion of this distance is now buried by tarmacced roads, within the quarries themselves lie around 20km of traceable routes. Second, a quite different set of lines led to the furnaces from the coal and iron ore mines, which lay closer than the quarries to the ironworks; but if underground track were included their mileage would be huge. Third, the exit lines from the ironworks to the ports, canals and nearby markets (as far away as Kington and Hereford) add a further 190km. Another guide to the enormous mileage built comes from the 10,500 tons of rails cast at Ebbw Vale between 1808 and 1816. If these were 3ft plates of a fairly standard 45lb apiece, they would total nearly half a million, or enough to complete about 220km of tramroad. This from only one ironworks over a mere nine years. So rich an area can only be studied in detail bit by bit. This thesis is therefore restricted to the limestone feeders of the northern outcrop, which archaeologically are the most fruitful. Most of the exit lines have been obscured by later railways; the coal and iron ore feeders are either underground and inaccessible or, where on the surface, have often been tipped over by later workings or destroyed by land reclamation. The limestone quarry feeders therefore provide the best opportunity to record early railways in South Wales. Many of the quarries which supplied the works remain as they were abandoned nearly a century ago. These vast monuments cover an area in excess of 4.5 square kilometres. The importance of the archaeology of the quarrying industry has been established by English Heritage with the publication of a Step I report as part of the Monuments Protection Programme. But the future of the South Wales quarries is not assured. Many could be re-developed through the Interim Development Orders granted in 1947, at a time when they were regarded as eyesores with no particular relevance to our past. Owners of largely unproductive areas of moorland are constantly looking for ways of increasing income. Quarrying for roadstone offers a lucrative return, and provides some jobs in largely rural communities which, theoretically, stimulate local economies. In the relevant counties output, mostly for roadstone, grew from 1,343,000 tons in 1895 to 15,515,000 in 1974.3 It is this threat which in part prompted this study. Although a great deal of attention has been devoted to the history of railways in South Wales (as in the rest of Britain) after 1830, relatively little has been given to their evolution. While previous studies have established the outline - notably Macdermot, Marshall, Lee, Barrie, Clinker, Baxter, Rattenbury and Hughes - these were mainly related to identifying the subject or concentrated on existing lines and documentary sources. Limestone railways have been largely ignored (with the partial exception of Rattenbury and Hughes), and little industrial archaeological survey has hitherto been done. My work, then, breaks new ground. It is intended as a contribution not to business or economic history, but rather to industrial archaeology and the history of technology. As such it combines extensive fieldwork with a detailed study of the history of limestone feeders from documentary sources, some printed but mostly in the National Library of Wales, Gwent Record Office and similar repositories. The result throws a completely new light on the artefacts of early railways, and especially on their permanent way. This has allowed for the first time a provisional typology to be made, and improved our understanding of the influences at work.
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Cowie, Jonathan. "The structure and efficiency of European railways." Thesis, Glasgow Caledonian University, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.294826.
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Marshall, Cross Daniel. "Enhancing the piston effect in underground railways." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/19240/.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate methods of enhancing the piston effect in underground railways for the improvement of thermal conditions on platforms. In many underground railways, the piston effect is used to provide ventilation. However, in older underground railways insufficient ventilation can lead to high temperatures, largely due to heat from train braking. Additionally, the energy demand from ventilation and cooling equipment in newer underground railways can be significant. Enhancing the piston effect can provide additional ventilation for improved thermal conditions or a reduced energy demand. Two novel devices for the enhancement of the piston effect were investigated; a train fin and aerofoil. Through influencing the air flow patterns around a train, the devices alter the train air displacement and aerodynamic work. Moreover, variation of the fin size or the aerofoil angle of inclination allows the air displacement and aerodynamic work to be controlled. The influence of an enhanced piston effect on the thermal conditions on an underground platform is shown to reduce the air temperatures, through the enhanced displacement of braking heat. Two- and three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models were developed, and verified with experimental data from the literature, to study numerically the piston effect, train fin and aerofoil and the thermal conditions on an underground platform. The results from the numerical analysis showed that a train aerofoil can increase air displacement by around 8%, with no increase in the aerodynamic work. It was found that an increase in the piston effect 10m^3s^-1 could reduce the highest air temperatures on an underground platform by between 0.16-0.29 °C. The cooling effect of enhancing the piston effect was found to be between 4.5-5.6 kW.
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Relation, Mark. "Railways and the End of British Romanticism." Thesis, Boston College, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104257.
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Thesis advisor: Penelope IsmayThis thesis examines how the railways created a new experiential world for ordinary British people by forcing them to confront the new realities of industrialized society. The railways quickly became a part of nearly every person’s daily life and experience, which heralded a fundamental change in the way people interacted with each other and understood themselves in the context of their world. This thesis uses a theory of “cultural language” within society to explore the ramifications of that change as seen in literature. The rise of the railways and the change in experience can be linked to the end of Romanticism in Britain and the rise of Victorian Realism. The new literature was reflective of the new post-railway industrialized world
Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Departmental Honors
Discipline: History
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Hak, Nicholas Luit. "Cross-subsidisation of railways in Hong Kong." Thesis, Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2008. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B41548954.
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Wheat, Phillip Edward. "Econometric cost analysis in vertically separated railways." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2013. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/7459/.
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This thesis is concerned with addressing the cost analysis challenges in vertically separated railways. Both the challenges in infrastructure management and passenger railway operations are considered. A hedonic cost function is applied to better incorporate measures of heterogeneity of output into passenger train operation cost analysis. This allows for a richer understanding of the cost structure of the industry, through explicitly making scale economies a function of output heterogeneity, which in turn allows for tenders to be specified in a cost minimising manner. Three example tender re-mappings are considered for Britain. It is estimated that two out of three actually increase costs, reflecting that the model implies that for very heterogeneous TOCs, returns to density can not be exploited. In addition, the thesis details methodological work in developing analytical frameworks to exploit a multi layer panel dataset comprising observations on regions of many individual infrastructure managers. As well as providing extra observations to estimate cost frontiers, the data structure permits estimation of a dual-level inefficiency model which separates sub-company persistent inefficiency from subcompany varying inefficiency. This decomposition gives an indication as to whether inefficiency predominantly varies within firm or between firms. The example shows statistically significant inefficiency variation at both levels, and importantly, failure to take into account the dual-level nature of inefficiency is shown to under predict inefficiency. The thesis also develops new techniques to quantify uncertainty in inefficiency predictions from stochastic frontier models. This has application across the applied efficiency analysis discipline and not just in railways. Overall, this thesis finds that robust cost and efficiency analysis can only be conducted through explicit allowance for heterogeneity in output (both observed and unobserved), ensuring sufficient data quantity and that data relates to the organisational level to which decisions are made and that, in any analysis, the impact of uncertainty is quantified.
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Kurosaki, Fumio. "An analysis of vertical separation of railways." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2008. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/682/.
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A number of state railways over the world have experienced railway reform, and vertical separation has been frequently utilized during its process. This thesis investigated a variety of models of vertical separation, which the railway sector has experienced over the twenty years. The main aims of the research are clarifying the key issues on vertical separation: aims of the reform; forms and implementation; advantages; disadvantageous effects. Based on the examination into the selected cases, this study comparatively analyzed them in terms of: 1) separation of operational factors; and 2) separation of financial responsibilities. The study also tried to examine an appropriate form of railways depending on the market structure. There are a number of different forms of vertical separation, and the study clarified the characteristics of each type of it. It also disclosed that whether it intends to introduce within-rail competition or not largely outlines the form of railways. In case it is intended to introduce within-rail competition promoting new entry into the market, it leads to separate operational (at least slot-allocation) and financial responsibilities between infrastructure and operation, whereas without an intention to introduce it, coordination problems through vertical separation are endeavoured to be lessened through certain measures such as integrated operation, share-holding relationship, and confining the separation into the smaller market. The study showed that vertical separation has a number of advantages, and that the unique exclusive advantage of complete separation, such as the case in UK and Sweden, is introducing within-rail competition fostering neutrality even between the passenger and the freight. It also revealed that this form raises coordination problems even in the prime market especially on condition infrastructure capacity is limited. The result of the study leads to the conclusion that full costs and benefits should be considered upon introducing a form of vertical separation, and that the appropriate form of it depends on the circumstances as well as its objectives.
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Leong, Jeffrey. "Development of a limit state design methodology for railway track." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2007. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16565/1/Jeffrey_Leong_Thesis.pdf.
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The research presented in this thesis is aimed at developing a limit state design methodology for railway track for recommendation to Standards Australia's next revision of the 'Permanent way materials: prestressed concrete sleepers' code (AS1085.14, 2003).
There is widespread suspicion that the railway track, particularly concrete sleepers, have untapped reserves of strength that has potential engineering and economic advantages for track owners. Through quantifying the effects of train speed, wheel impact loadings and distribution of vehicle loads, track engineers would be able to design railway track more accurately and hence uncover the reserves of strengths in railway track.
To achieve this improvement a comprehensive set of wheel/rail impact measurements has been collected over a one year period to establish a distribution of track loadings. The wheel/rail impact data collected showed a logarithmically linear distribution which shows that impact forces are randomly occurring events. The linearity of the data also allows for wheel/rail impact forces to be forecasted allowing for a more rational risk based design of the railway track.
To help with an investigation of the influence of changes to train operation on the wheel/rail impact force distributions, development of a new dynamic track computer model capable of simulating the complex interaction between the train and track was completed within this research. The model known as DTRACK (Dynamic analysis of rail TRACK) was benchmarked against other dynamic models and field data to validate its outputs.
The field measurements and DTRACK simulations became the basis for development of a limit state design methodology for railway track (risk based approach) for railway track in place of an allowable limit state (compliance based) approach. This new approach will allow track owners to assess the track capacity based on more realistic loads and is expected to allow an increase in the capacity of existing track infrastructure which will allow railways to be more commercially competitive and viable.
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Leong, Jeffrey. "Development of a limit state design methodology for railway track." Queensland University of Technology, 2007. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16565/.
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The research presented in this thesis is aimed at developing a limit state design methodology for railway track for recommendation to Standards Australia's next revision of the 'Permanent way materials: prestressed concrete sleepers' code (AS1085.14, 2003). There is widespread suspicion that the railway track, particularly concrete sleepers, have untapped reserves of strength that has potential engineering and economic advantages for track owners. Through quantifying the effects of train speed, wheel impact loadings and distribution of vehicle loads, track engineers would be able to design railway track more accurately and hence uncover the reserves of strengths in railway track. To achieve this improvement a comprehensive set of wheel/rail impact measurements has been collected over a one year period to establish a distribution of track loadings. The wheel/rail impact data collected showed a logarithmically linear distribution which shows that impact forces are randomly occurring events. The linearity of the data also allows for wheel/rail impact forces to be forecasted allowing for a more rational risk based design of the railway track. To help with an investigation of the influence of changes to train operation on the wheel/rail impact force distributions, development of a new dynamic track computer model capable of simulating the complex interaction between the train and track was completed within this research. The model known as DTRACK (Dynamic analysis of rail TRACK) was benchmarked against other dynamic models and field data to validate its outputs. The field measurements and DTRACK simulations became the basis for development of a limit state design methodology for railway track (risk based approach) for railway track in place of an allowable limit state (compliance based) approach. This new approach will allow track owners to assess the track capacity based on more realistic loads and is expected to allow an increase in the capacity of existing track infrastructure which will allow railways to be more commercially competitive and viable.
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Fletcher, Valerie. "Nineteenth century railways : federation and the constitutional conventions /." St. Lucia, Qld, 2002. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe17414.pdf.
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Jackson, James Alexander. "Appraising Rural Railways : Are They A Special Case?" Thesis, University of Leeds, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.515346.
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Mikailu, A. S. "A study of economic efficiency, accounting and decision making in railways with special reference to the Nigerian Railway Corporation." Thesis, University of Reading, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.374698.
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Rahbar, Davoud. "Environmental impact assessment for underground railways :case studies : the Tehran Underground Railway in Iran, the Bakerloo line (London Underground Railway) in U.K. and the Hong Kong Underground Railway." Thesis, University of Salford, 1997. http://usir.salford.ac.uk/26870/.
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Urban transport is a component of social and economic activities and underground railway development is now accepted, for large cities throughout the world, as being vital for urban public transport. The impact of underground railway transport on the environment has become increasingly important during recent years. This research shows how essential Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is in the planning and development of under- ground railway projects. The thesis shows how EIA methods provide those bodies responsible for urban transport with the basic techniques to enable them to carry out best environmental practice and to prevent adverse local impact. Three case studies were undertaken:- The Tehran Metro in the capital of Iran, the Bakerloo Line (London Underground, U.K.) and the Hong Kong Metro. The thesis demonstrated how the study was conducted with material and data gathered by observation and survey from the field and comprehensive questionnaires, and from scientific papers, documents, reports and other related literature sources. The thesis shows how EIA principles and techniques are employed through the use of checklists and Leopold's matrices in the identification and analysis of impacts caused by underground railways in both their construction and operational phases. The results of the data collected during this research are analyzed and discussed. Recommendations are made for the use of EIA techniques in assessing and possibly mitigating the adverse environmental effects of underground railways.
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Lall, Ashish Carleton University Dissertation Economics. "Cost function regularity and economies of scale, scope, and total factor productivity: an application to class I Canadian railways, 1956-81." Ottawa, 1992.
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Andersson-Skog, Lena. ""Såsom allmänna inrättningar till gagnet, men affärsföretag till namnet" : SJ, järnvägspolitiken och den ekonomiska omvandlingen efter 1920." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för geografi och ekonomisk historia, 1993. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-68315.
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This study investigates the extent and nature of the interaction between the political, institutional andeconomical development in the Swedish railway sector 1920-1980. The work deals with two main issuse,which may be summarized in the following question: has the Swedish railway policy contributed to orcounterbalanced the stagnation of the railways, especially in the post-war period? The basic premise has beenthat the institutional framework from the 19th century, was well adjusted to the requirements in thecontemporary industrialization process. The adaption of the regulations, obligations and economic principlesfrom the inter-war years and henceforth was more problematic. A growing discrepancy between economicconditions and policy goals emerged. Ulis affected the function of the Sate Railways (SJ).The interesting issue is to explain the process of renewal and abandonment of the original institutionalarrangements. There are two distinctive driving forces in this process. Firstly the demand for transport in theeconomy of the society changed. This interacted with the expansion of motorvehicles. Motor vehicles, and lateron civil aviation, have taken over parts of traditional railway transports. Of greater significance though, is thefact that railways have not been able to compete with motorvehicles on a number of growing markets in theeconomy of society. This has been of major importance to the diminishing economic returns and the decliningcompany profitability in the railway sector. The second driving force is to be found in the institutional setting inthe railway sector. The institutional principles and the railway policy gave social and economic responsibilitypriority over business profitability as the managerial strategy for SJ. SJ was used to fulfil regional and generaleconomic policy goals. As a consequence the unprofitable private railways were nationalized to save theregional transport system. To succeed on the competitive transport market in the post-war period it becamenecessary for SJ to act as a profit-seeking company. This created a long period of political struggle inParliament concerning the institutional principles. In order to keep the social economic principles, the monetaryclaims were reduced. Subsidies were given to try to save SJ s profitability as a business company. The mixtureof social and monetary principles from 1960 and onwards, could neither solve the railway's market problems,nor could they keep the regional railway system intact. This failure led to the abandonment of the originalinstitutional framework. In the late 1980 s it was totally replaced. Hie guiding rules for the State Railways arenow concentrated on competition and company profitability.digitalisering@umu
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Joborn, Martin. "Optimization of empty freight car distribution in scheduled railways /." Linköping : Univ, 2001. http://www.bibl.liu.se/liupubl/disp/disp2001/tek671s.pdf.
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Drossaert, Francis H. "Detection of abandoned mineshafts in the proximity of railways." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/2486.
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This thesis contains the results of a project funded by Network Rail. The mining industry left a legacy of numerous concealed abandoned mineshafts throughout Britain. Decages later an improperly sealed mineshaft can cause subsidence or even collapse. In order to provide a safe reliable railway system, network Rail set itself the target to locate and treat all known mineshafts in the proximity of railways. Several geophysical surveys were commisioned by Network to locate mineshafts, with limited results.
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Merket, Rico. "The organisation of European railways : A transaction cost perspective." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.503283.
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Bae, Magnus Skomsøy. "Situation Awareness and Gamification for Driver assistance on Railways." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for datateknikk og informasjonsvitenskap, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-27055.
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Rail companies are increasingly investing in information systems thatcontribute to reducing energy consumption and increasing punctuality by telling the train driver at which speed to drive. Thesedriver advisorysystems do little to make the train driver understand why the advice is givenand existing research suggests that increasing the train drivers awareness ofthe traffic around them could have positive effects on the acceptance of theadvice given by driver advisory systems, while also increasing the traindrivers understanding of the current situation and projection of future state, their situationalawareness. There also seems to be room for increasing train drivers motivation to followthe advice of driver advisory systems by motivating them to be punctual. Gamification is aset of concepts that are often used with success to increase system usage anduser interaction and can be a promising way of motivating train driversThis Thesis shows that the situational awareness of train drivers can be supported by designing and prototyping a system that fills this gap in current research by visualizing live traffic. The thesis also defines a framework forconstructive use of gamification targeted towards making train drivers reflectover own driving styles and motivating towards punctuality.The scientific contributions of this thesis are:C1: A novel framework for applying gamification to support reflection and increase train drivers intrinsic motivation to be punctual.C2: A prototypical example of how the situational awareness of train drivers can be supported.
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Loft, Edward Charles. "One big row : Government and the railways, 1951-64." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 1999. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/28947.
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This thesis places the work of Dr Richard Beeching as Chairman of the British Railways Board in the context of Government policy towards the nationalised railways 1951-64, and examines the popular myth that Beeching and the Minister who appointed him, Ernest Marples, initiated a policy of railway closures and contraction. The thesis argues that Beeching's appointment and policies need to be seen in the context of the failure of Government policy towards the railways during the 1950s. The background to the Transport Act, 1953 is analysed. It is argued that, through this Act, the Government increased competition in the transport field, but was unwilling to accept, and unprepared for, the logical consequences of this change. The discussion of the Government's subsequent policy towards the railways during the 1950s argues that by intervening in industrial relations and price-setting, Ministers not only forced the railways into the red, but hampered their own efforts to encourage the industry to increase its efficiency. Government involvement in industrial relations, price-setting, investment and the withdrawal of unremunerative services is discussed. The Government's tougher approach to railway finances after 1959 (apparent in the 1962 Transport Act, tighter supervision of investment and the closure programme under Beeching) is placed in two contexts. Firstly, the growing recognition within Whitehall that the rise of road transport would limit the railways' future role. Secondly, the reform of the relationship between government and the nationalised industries in general. This discussion leads to a re-evaluation of Marples' significance, and a rejection of the view that Beeching's closure programme arose from a study of the railways in isolation from transport as a whole. Finally, the presentation and implementation of Beeching's closure programme until the 1964 General Election is discussed. The thesis argues that the social and economic consequences of closures were not ignored.
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Aguiar, Eduardo Pestana de. "Fuzzy logic system applied to classification problems in railways." Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF), 2016. https://repositorio.ufjf.br/jspui/handle/ufjf/3627.
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This thesis presents new fuzzy models applied to classification problems. With this regards, we introduce the use of set-membership concept, derived from the adaptive filter theory, into the training procedure of type-1 and singleton/non-singleton fuzzy logic systems, in order to reduce computational complexity and to increase convergence speed. Also, we present different criteria for using together with set-membership. Furthermore, we discuss the usefulness of delta rule delta, local Lipschitz estimation, variable step size and variable step size adaptive algorithms to yield additional improvement in terms of computational complexity reduction and convergence speed. Another important contribution of this thesis is to address the height type-reduction and to propose a modified version of interval singleton type-2 fuzzy logic system, so−called upper and lower singleton type-2 fuzzy logic system. The obtained results are compared with other models reported in the literature, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed classifiers and revealing that the proposals are able to properly handle with uncertainties associated with the measurements and with the data that are used to tune the parameters of the model. Based on data set provided by a Brazilian railway company, the models outlined above are applied in the classification of three possible faults and the normal condition of the switch machine, which is an equipment used for handling railroad switches. Finally, this thesis discusses the use of set-membership concept into the training procedure of an interval and singleton type-2 fuzzy logic system and of an upper and lower singleton type-2 fuzzy logic system, aiming to reduce computational complexity and to increase the convergence speed and the classification ratio. Also, we discuss the adoption of different criteria together with set-membership based-techniques. The performance is based on the data set composed of images provided by the same Brazilian railway company, which covers the four possible rail head defects and the normal condition of the rail head. The reported results show that the proposed models result in improved convergence speed, slightly higher classification ratio and remarkable computation complexity reduction when we limit the number of epochs for training, which may be required due to real time constraint or low computational resource availability.
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Haywood, Russell. "Railways, land-use planning and urban development, 1948-94." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 2001. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/19777/.
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The aim of this thesis was to bridge a gap in the research literature with regard to commentary on and evaluation of the relationship between British land-use planning and the management and development of the railway network in the years between 1948-94 when British railways were in public ownership. Although the research was focused on the nationalised main line system, it reviewed other rail systems where this was helpful to the analysis. The research utilised a review of the relationship between the railway network and urban form in the years to 1947 to derive analytical criteria and to serve as a point of departure for the core of the thesis. The overall relationship between the two sectors post-1948 was explored, at a broad geographical scale, with regard to institutional relationships, policy, and outcomes with regard to the spatial relationships between the railway network and patterns of urban form. The results of this research were used to derive hypotheses about the relationships which were then tested in a case study of the Manchester conurbation. The main conclusions are that there were few periods between 1948-94 when the ideological, institutional and policy frameworks necessary for a close and positive relationship between the planning and railway sectors were in place simultaneously. The contexts which were most favourable were with regard to: the location of new towns and town expansion projects in the South East in 1950s and 1960s; the improvement of railway networks in the PTE areas between 1968-79 along with the development of strategic policies for the restriction of major trip generators to CBDs; the period between 1985-94 when a surge in the property market was accompanied by BR Sectorisation, investment in other forms of fixed track transit, and the promotion of major development projects at and around stations, especially in CBDs. The research concludes by identifying opportunities for further historical research and briefly reviewing the relevance of the findings to contemporary research.
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Thiebaud, Jean-Christophe. "Restructuring railways in Europe : regulation to supplement market mechanisms." Thesis, Paris 1, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016PA01E007/document.
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Réformes des chemins de fer en Europe : la régulation en complément des mécanismes de marché Afin de trouver un nouveau dynamisme, l’Europe des chemins de fer a entrepris d’importants changements visant in fine à introduire une pression concurrentielle dans un secteur précédemment dominé par des monopoles étatiques.A l'instar des changements ayant eu lieu dans les autres industries de réseaux, la gestion en amont des infrastructures - considérée comme un monopole naturel - a été séparée du marché aval des services ferroviaires, considéré lui comme contestable, c’est-à-dire propice à l’introduction de la concurrence.Néanmoins l’expérience de réformes similaires nous rappelle que les marchés découlant d’une telle réorganisation doivent être manufacturés et ne se forment pas spontanément.Dans cette thèse, nous capitalisons sur cette période de changements afin d’analyser comment une telle transition se réalise. Plus spécifiquement, en appliquant le cadre développé par la Théorie de la Firme, les défis liés à la séparation verticale et au besoin de coordination sont examinés. Puis en s’appuyant sur les outils de la Théorie de l’Agence, nous étudions les implications dé-13coulant de l’introduction d’appels d’offres dans la délégation de service public pour le transport régional de voyageur. Au long de la thèse, l’accent est mis sur le rôle de la régulation et sur les remèdes qu’elle peut offrir aux écueils rencontrés.Le chapitre 1 analyse comment les réformes ont été conçues à travers l’Europe.Car en pratique la mise en oeuvre de cette nouvelle stratégie ferroviaire varie grandement d’un pays à l’autre à plusieurs niveaux, tels que la structure verticale,la régulation ou encore la libéralisation du secteur aval, engendrant d’importants débats sur les mérites respectifs de chacune de ces options. Cette pluralité interroge également sur les motivations sous-jacentes à chacun de ces choix. Et bien que la littérature économique aborde ces motivations, les études empiriques précédentes ne les prennent pas en compte quand il s’agit de comparer les différentes formes verticales. De ce fait, l’endogénéité peut venir biaiser les résultats des estimations économétriques. Ayant construit une base de données couvrant les quatre années entre 2009 et 2012 pour 25 pays européens, nous appliquons la méthode des doubles moindres carrées (2SLS)pour obtenir une estimation non-biaisée des effets de chacune des dimensions précédemment évoquées. En particulier, nous trouvons que l’endogénéité crée effectivement un biais qui péjore les effets mesurés de la séparation verticale.Le chapitre 2 s'appuie sur le cas du secteur ferroviaire français pour illustrer une des répercussions souvent sous-estimées de la séparation verticale, celle des coûts de coordination. Nous développons un modèle expliquant pourquoi la coordination peut aboutir à des résultats inefficients dans un secteur ferroviaire où les firmes doivent s'engager ex ante sur les quantités. Nos résultats indiquent qu’une régulation crédible peut permettre de surmonter les limites de la séparation verticale pour le gestionnaire d’infrastructure. Cependant dans un marché qui n’est pas suffisamment flexible, il devient plus dur au fur et à mesure que le marché aval s’ouvre à la concurrence de soutenir une production importanteIn an objective to revitalize the sector, railways in Europe have gone through changes in order to introduce competitive forces in an industry previous lydominated by state monopolies. Not unlike what occurred in other network industries, the upstream management of infrastructure -considered a natural monopoly- was separated from the downstream market of train services which was deemed contestable. But the experience from previous reforms shows that the markets stemming from this new organisation are made and don’t necessarily just happen.This dissertation preys on those changing times to analyse how such transition can be achieved. More specifically, it uses the framework developed by the Theory of the Firm to investigate some of the challenges that have risen to investigate some of the challenges that have risen from this new organisation due to vertical separation and the need to develop coordination. Then using the tools developed by Agency Theory, the dissertation investigates the introduction of tendering in public procurement for rail services.Throughout the analysis, an emphasis is put on finding how regulation can provide a remedy to the identified challenges. In chapter 1, we review how the reforms were designed in Europe. It highlights that there was very various applications across countries on several dimensions such as the vertical structure, regulation or downstream competition, triggering debates on the relative merits of each option.relative merits of each option.Furthermore this plurality questions the motivations behind these choices. And although those motivationsare brought up in the literature, the previous empirical studies do nottake them into account when comparing the relative performance of one form against the other. In such a case, endogeneity might come and biased the results of econometric regressions. Having constructed a database covering four years between 2009 and 2012 in 25 European countries we use a two-stageleast-square model to obtain an unbiased estimate of the effects of the abovementioned dimensions. In conclusion, we find that endogeneity does create abias, in particular when measuring the merits of full separation. Chapter 2 builds on the French rail sector’s example to shed the light on the crucial and understudied impact of coordination costs, one of the drawbacks arising with separation in the sector. We develop a model explaining why inefficient outcomes may arise in the railway sector when vertically separated firms have to commit ex ante on quantities. Our results indicate that credible and effective price regulation can overcome the limits of separation on the infrastructure side. On the other hand, if the market is not flexible enough, it may become harder, as the downstream market is becoming more competitive, for train operators to make optimistic production forecasts
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Boughey, David Stephen. "Industrial flexibility and international competition : railway locomotive engineering in Britain, (1860 - 1914)." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.391142.
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Smith, Bruce H., and n/a. "Without motion there cannot be any life : the rise & fall of the 1889 Railway Commissioners : railway management & colonial politics in nineteenth century New Zealand." University of Otago. Department of History, 2007. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20070619.154352.
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In the nineteenth century, the steam railway became, for many people, the superior conduit for the inland translocation of people and freight. Once devised, steam railways offered such a huge improvement on previous modes and made such a dramatic change to the unity, organisation and commerce of most countries that almost everyone wanted one. New Zealand proved no different, but was faced with not only the twin problems of low population and often rugged geography, but also serious economic problems from difficult world trading conditions and a debt greatly increased by railway construction costs. In the later 1880s, a conservative government decided to vest the Government Railways in independent Commissioners to try to improve productivity and cut out political influence, corruption and jobbery in the huge commercial presence the colony�s railways represented. While this move was successful, a change to one-man-one-vote, together with the pivotal 1890 Maritime Strike, saw the country move left in the elections of 1890, bringing to power a Liberal Government. This new Ministry then set out to reduce the autonomy of the Railway Commissioners, taking four years to return the management of Railways to the direct control of the Government.
While interesting in itself, this is part of the story of the process of the democratic development of New Zealand. This was a community struggling with the often conflicting demands of using railways to not only service the railway debt but also fulfil public transit requirements, including encouraging settlement and economic growth. The organisation�s monopolistic nature and great economic presence, however, offered multiple, including corrupt, opportunities to support the political aspirations of those in power, while offering a less than wonderful service to its customers. Taking place against a backdrop of agitation for railway reform, particularly orchestrated by railway activist Samuel Vaile, the outcome can be seen to have been less than completely desirable for the economic development of the country or its people. This was despite huge support for the principal activist against the Railway Commissioners, Liberal Premier Richard Seddon.
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Lee, Sui-chun Macella. "The impact of Mass Transit Railway on land development in Hong Kong an analysis of the island line using expansion method /." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 1989. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B42574146.
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Kuo, Kirsty Alison. "Vibration from underground railways : considering piled foundations and twin tunnels." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2011. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/238550.
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Accurate predictions of ground-borne vibration levels in the vicinity of an underground railway are greatly sought after in modern urban centers. Yet the complexity involved in simulating the underground environment means that it is necessary to make simplifying assumptions about this system. One such commonly made assumption is to ignore the effects of nearby embedded structures such as piled foundations and neighbouring tunnels. Through the formulation of computationally efficient mathematical models, this dissertation examines the dynamic behaviour of these two particular types of structures. The effect of the dynamic behaviour of these structures on the ground-borne vibration generated by an underground railway is considered. The modelling of piled foundations begins with consideration of a single pile embedded in a linear, viscoelastic halfspace. Two approaches are pursued: the modification of an existing plane-strain pile model; and the development of a fully three-dimensional model formulated in the wavenumber domain. Methods for adapting models of infinite structures to simulate finite systems using mirror-imaging techniques are described. The interaction between two neighbouring piles is considered using the method of joining subsystems, and these results are extended to formulate models for pile groups. The mathematical model is validated against existing numerical solutions and is found to be both accurate and efficient. A building model and a model for the pile cap are developed, and are attached to the piled foundation. A case study is used to illustrate a procedure for assessing the vibration performance of pile groups subject to vibration generated by an underground railway. The two-tunnel model uses the superposition of displacement fields to produce a fully coupled model of two infinitely long tunnels embedded in a homogeneous, viscoelastic fullspace. The significance of the interactions occurring between the two tunnels is quantified by calculating the insertion gains that result from the existence of a second tunnel. The results show that a high degree of inaccuracy exists in any underground-railway vibration prediction model that includes only one of the two tunnels present.
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Williams, David Langlois. "The Development and Consolidation of Atlanta’s Street Railways, 1866-1891." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2007. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/history_theses/26.
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This is a map from a dissertation that was completed in 1975, which has been scanned to ensure greater access. Please search the GIL Online Catalog for more information about this thesis, or to locate the hard copy within the Georgia State University Library. A Note on Maps (from the Appendix): Two main sources were used in the mapping of streetcar routes: franchises and deeds of conveyance. Neither of these alone or combined were completely satisfactory in fixing the exact route, at any given time, of the lines which were built. While the franchise theoretically laid out the route to be followed, the wording of such legislation was often vague or incomplete, and the franchise was no guarantee that the line would eventually be constructed with no modifications. The deeds, on the other hand, represented the routes existing at the time of the conveyance of the property, often many years after initial construction. This leaves open the possibility that routes may have been slightly changed from time to time as traction companies constructed turn-outs, spur lines, parallel tracks, etc. These maps were drawn up under official auspices and therefore represent an additional primary source of information on this question. This does not, however, render them totally free from error or omission. In the case of the West End and Atlanta and the Atlanta Street Railroad companies, for example, the evidence overwhelmingly indicates that they occupied Broad Street between Marietta and Alabama Streets, which is not indicated on the 1886 official map. When one turns to the general problem of tracing downtown tracks, which were altered quite frequently, the problem of accuracy becomes almost insurmountable. Except in these notable instances, in drawing these lines the author has tried to closely follow the routes as already plotted by the map-makers for the year concerned, even though this has entailed minor deviations from the routes as indicated by primary sources. Such discrepancies pertain primarily to the short-lived Taylor Hill Line of the Atlanta Street Railroad Company and the Park Avenue line of the Metropolitan Street Railroad Company. The lines of the companies are drawn in the following color keys: the Atlanta Street Railroad Company, red (with the Taylor Hill Line in orange); the West End and Atlanta Street Railroad Company, brown; the Metropolitan Street Railroad Company, dark blue; the Gate City Street Railroad Company, light blue; the Edgewood and Atlanta Street Railroad Company, black; and the Fulton County Street Railroad Company, green; the Atlanta, West End and McPherson Barracks and Grant Park Electric Railway companies, pink. Prospective routes of other companies are not indicated. Also not included on the 1894 map are the lines which were built by the Chattahoochee River Railway Company (later the Collins Park and Belt Railroad Company), the Atlanta City Street Railway Company, and the Atlanta Consolidated Street Railway Company. These lines can be seen plotted on the map but are not included in the color key.
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Singh, Manoj. "Competition in intermodal rail transport : the case of Indian railways." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.496204.
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Rivera-Trujillo, Cesar. "Measuring the productivity and efficiency of railways : an international comparison." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.410901.
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Palacin, Roberto. "A systemic framework for monitoring energy performance of urban railways." Thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/3519.
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Global sustainability challenges are particularly acute in urban conurbations which house the majority of the world’s population and where most of the economic activity takes place. Mobility is at the core of this challenge as transport is one of the highest energy consuming and polluting sectors across the globe. Achieving a low environmental impact transport system fit for all is a clear objective. A modal shift to low energy but highly competitive transport modes is a key target. Urban railway systems have the environmental performance and mass transit capability to be the core provider of mobility in metropolitan areas bringing also other benefits e.g. connectivity, cohesion and social inclusivity. Nevertheless, in a very competitive context where all modes are improving their energy performance, it is crucial that urban rail systems enhance their energy conservation levels without jeopardising their service offer. There is a lack of consensus amongst stakeholders on how to assess energy performance of urban rail systems. This void has been extended to the academic literature, where the issue is largely missing. The overall purpose of this thesis is to contribute to energy conservation of urban rail systems by supporting the decisionmaking process leading to the deployment of interventions aimed at improving energy efficiency and optimising its usage. A three-phased methodological triangulation approach has been adopted to address three research questions derived from two research objectives. This research has investigated energy usage, interventions and interdependencies that are governed by the complexity of the socio-technical system that are urban railways. A holistic approach has been developed based on an adaptable systemic monitoring framework and associated methodology enabling i) a multilevel analysis of system energy performance using a set of twenty-two hierarchical indicators and four complementing parameters, ii) an appraisal of candidate energy optimisation interventions and iii) the monitoring of the results of implemented measures. To validate and illustrate its execution, the framework has been applied to five different urban rail systems to assess a total of eleven technical and operational interventions. This has resulted in observing up 3.4% or circa 4 GWh usage reduction at system level when considering the influence of the three technical interventions monitored and up to 4.8% or circa 6.6 GWh when the eight operational interventions are evaluated in conjunction. These outcomes have illustrated the universality of the framework and its adaptability to the particularities of each urban rail system.
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Sharif, Ather Khaja. "Dynamic performance investigation of base isolated structures." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.313399.
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Bailey, Michael R. "Decision-making processes in the manufacturing sector : the independent locomotive industry in the 19th century." Thesis, University of York, 1999. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/2476/.
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