Статті в журналах з теми "Rail-road combined transport"

Abstract This paper analyzes the importance of bimodal solutions in the rail-road transport of goods with an emphasis on the aspect of ecology within the geographical region of EU-28. Using the panel regression analysis in the period from 2010 to 2019, we are trying to confirm the dependence between the road and rail transport of goods by applying several freight units’ measures: the freight transport performance in tonne-kilometres, the freight transport performance in tonne-kilometres per thousand of USD, and the amount of goods transported in thousands of tonnes. The application of data to all selected freight units’ measures in the regression models confirms a relationship between road and rail transport. A direct relationship between these two modes of transport confirms the complementarity effect, which means that, in most cases, the goods transport solutions require the combination of road and rail mode, where the railway should be considered as the main transport/carrier, the road transport, however, should have the role of short pre-transport or post-transport. The ecological aspect of such bimodal solutions can also be emphasized since the railway transport is considered as an ecological mode.

Tianjin Port has 3 container sea-rail combined transport channels leading to inland ports, and it is one of the intermodal transportation nodes of my country’s “One Belt One Road” key construction. This paper introduces the development status of Tianjin Port’s container sea-rail combined transport, uses SWOT to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the development of Tianjin Port’s sea-rail combined transport, and proposes optimization strategies on this basis.

With the rapid development of multiyards railway intermodal terminal (MYRIT) construction in China, performance evaluation has become an important issue for terminal design and management departments. Due to the complexity of the multiyards terminal and the associated rail network, the train moving process and related terminal operations have become more complicated compared with the traditional intermodal container terminal. However, in general simulation platforms, the train moving process is simplified and train route scheduling rules are not considered in existing simulation models. In order to provide an accurate and comprehensive quantitative evaluation tool for MYRIT, a simulation platform based on the Timed Petri Net model has been developed, which can offer decision support for terminal design and management departments. In this platform, a yards and facilities layout module has been created to give simulation users access to designing the railway network on this platform. And a train route dispatching simulation method has been integrated to provide an accurate simulation of the train moving process. Based on a real case of Qianchang railway intermodal terminal that is located in Fujian Province, China, the platform is thoroughly validated against historical data. And the test scenarios show that train routes arrangement and handling equipment configuration both have a significant influence on overall terminal performance, which need to be carefully considered during terminal design and management.

It is the study of river cargo terminals possibilities for storing and reloading vehicles on river vessels / from river vessels. Description of the current situation on the country's transport market and examples of the organization of combined transport involving road and rail transport for the transport of general cargo in transport-developed countries are given. Proposals for attracting river transport to the organization of combined transport have been made. The available base is the fleet, coastal terminals. Existing requirements and regulations applicable to such terminals are shown. Their analysis and projection on the further development of transportation of highly tariffed general cargo in combined communications with the participation of river transport are made.

Considering the underachievement on modal shift and environmental objectives for freight transport, scholars and policy makers recurrently ask how more road freight can be shifted to rail and waterborne transport. The current study simulates transport and modal distribution effects for several scenarios in which modal shift policy measures are strengthened, expanded, combined, and harmonized across borders in the Nordics. Found transport effects were then used in an environmental model to assess implications for energy use and emissions of CO2,eq, NOx, and particulate matter, gaining insights into which policy measures are more effective or complement each other, and whether international harmonization might increase effectiveness, and modal shift. From our simulations, a Norwegian ecobonus scheme for rail yields larger modal shift away from road than a similar ecobonus for sea transport. Facilitating longer freight trains yields more modal shift but has high policy costs. Effects of harmonizing policies across Nordic countries vary but can be strengthened by combining different measures. However, even for scenarios with strong policy measures, reductions in CO2,eq emissions do not exceed 3.6% in 2030 while sometimes increasing local air pollution. Modal shift policy should therefore not exclusively be regarded as environmental strategy, although it may contribute to other policy objectives.

The article analyzes the main routes for delivering goods from China to the EU countries. The main transit flow in this direction is cargo in containers. The competitive Caspian-Black Sea route of the New Silk Road through Ukraine with the use of combined rail and sea transportations has been analyzed. Two delivery options are considered – using ferry ship and feeder ship lines. Simulation was used to evaluate the route parameters. Recommendations on the rational areas of combined transport technologies application on this route are given.

Efficient and effective movement of goods is very crucial in today’s competitive environment especially for developing countries like Nigeria, suffering from the growing challenges of inland freight transportation and crippling logistics costs which limit her competitive ability in the global economy. The development of ‘combined transport’, intermodal transport’ and ‘multimodal transport’ could provide new opportunities for the transport industry in Nigeria as a viable alternative to tackle the challenges associated with lengthy delays in cargo movement, increased cost of transport logistics and the negative environmental impacts of carbon emissions. This paper aims at evaluating the prospects of rail freight transport of cargoes from Apapa Lagos seaport to hinterland towns in Nigeria. Both primary data and Secondary data were retrieved from National Bureau of Statistics, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Nigeria Shipper’s Council, Lagos state Transport statistics and Nigerian Ports Authority and some other selected materials on the subject matter. The findings of this paper reveal a huge differential cost from Apapa seaport to the 7 different hinterland towns in Nigeria that could save importers and exporters when rail transport is used as an alternative mode of transport instead of road transport mode. This study shows that an increase in the usage of rail to haul goods in and out of the Lagos seaport hub would bring relief to the Apapa metropolis if adequate attention is given to it by the government.

The commercial transportation of crude oil and petroleum products by pipeline is receiving increased attention in South Africa. Transnet Pipeline Transport has recently obtained permission from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to construct and operate a new petroleum products pipeline of 60 cm diameter from Durban to Gauteng. At an operating speed of 10 km/h the proposed 60 cm Transnet pipeline would be able to deliver 3,54 million litres of petroleum product per hour. This is equivalent to 89 deliveries per hour using road tank vehicles with an average carrying capacity of 40 000 litres of fuel per vehicle. This pipeline throughput is also equivalent to two trains departing per hour, each consisting of 42 petroleum tank wagons with an average carrying capacity of 42 500 litres of fuel per wagon. Considering that such road trucks and rail wagons return empty to the upstream refineries in Durban, it is clear that there is no tenable long-term alternative to pipeline transport:pipeline transport is substantially cheaper than road and rail transport;pipeline transport is much safer than rail and especially road transport; andpipeline transport frees up alternative road and rail transport capacity.Pipeline transport is a non-containerised bulk mode of transport for the carriage of suitable liquids (for example, petroleum commodities, which include crude oil, refined fuel products and liquid petro-chemicals), gas, slurrified coal and certain water-suspended ores and minerals. InSouth Africa, petroleum products account for the majority of commercial pipeline traffic, followed by crude oil and natural gas. There are three basic types of petroleum pipeline transport systems:Gathering pipeline systemsCrude oil trunk pipeline systemsRefined products pipeline systems Collectively, these systems provide a continuous link between extraction, processing, distribution, and wholesalers’ depots in areas of consumption. The following activities are involved in the flow of goods between place of origin and place of consumption or application:Demand forecasting, Facility site selection, Procurement,Materials handling, Packaging, Warehouse management, Inventory management,Order processing, Logistics communications, Transport, Reverse logistics. Because cost is incurred without adding value each time goods are handled (activity 4) at a terminal or storage facility, a primary logistics objective is to eliminate handling wherever possible. With the carriage of crude oil and petroleum products by pipeline this objective is fully met. Commodity intake, haulage, and discharge are combined in one process, usually a remote-controlled operation. Pipeline transport is a non-containerised bulk mode of transport thereby obviating the need for packaging (activity 5) and returning empty containers. Pipelines provide a direct and long-term link between these origins and destinations. If necessary a continuous service can be provided with no need for a return trip or a reverse pumping process (activity 11).The elimination of handling, packaging and reverse logistics activities contribute substantially to the high measure of economies of scale that pipeline transport enjoys. The article provides adscription of each of the eleven logistics activities in the context of pipeline transport. Effective logistics service is a prerequisite to help ensure that customers receive the required products at the desired quality and quantity, where and when needed. The most pertinent determinants of logistics service performance aresuitability, accessibility, goods security, transit time, reliability and flexibility. The article offers a discussion of the extent to which pipeline transport conforms to each of these measures of effectiveness.

Purpose. In modern conditions of the transport services market functioning, the main task of a customer-oriented carrier is to provide high-quality services for the needs of the clientele in cargo transportation, taking into account modern technologies and world experience. The aim of the work is to analyze the existing problems and prospects for organizing piggyback transportation and the effectiveness assessment of this technology application on the example of one of the most potential routes. Methodology. During the research, methods of analysis and synthesis were used to study the main provisions of scientific publications about world experience of organizing piggyback transportation, methods for determining tariffs for cargo transportation and technical - economic calculations for the selected variants. Findings. Ukraine has significant potential for the development of combined transportation, in particular, in international traffic. One of the most efficient and perspective combined transport technologies in the world is a piggyback transportation. A comparative assessment of the shippers’ costs for cargo transportation using different technologies between the terminals Dnepr-Liski and Chop has been carried out. Scientific novelty. The obtained results make it possible to provide a scientific and economic basis for the selection of expedient variants for combined cargo transportation. Practical value. The obtained results of the analysis of the use effectiveness of piggyback technology, taking into account the existing tariffs and competition with road transport on the specific logistics route, can be used for a preliminary assessment and decision-making about the use of different types of combined transport as an alternative to direct road or rail cargo transportation.

For the English abstract and full text of the article please see the attached PDF-File (English version follows Russian version).ABSTRACT The article considers current trends in development of urban passenger transport systems. The emergence of new types and ways of transporting people in megacities (in particular, light rail, high-speed bus), formation of modern transport-interchange hubs are highlighted as the main ones. The practical example shows general principles of arrangement of the latter taking into account the peculiarities of metropolitan public transport and a type (nature) of combined trips. Keywords: urban transport, intermodal transport systems, light rail, high-speed bus, interchange hubs. REFERENCES 1.Information materials of UITP.Official site of the Union International Transports Publics (UITP).[Electronic resource]: http://www.uitp.org/world-metro-and-automated-metro-latest-figures.Last accessed 03.08.2016. 2.Vuchik, V. R. Transport in cities that are convenient for life: Trans.from English [Transport v gorodah, udobnyh dlja zhizni: Per. s angl.].Moscow, Territorija budushhego publ., 2011, 576 p. 3.Information materials of PIARC.Official site of World Road Association (PIARC) [Electronic resource]: https://www.piarc.org/en/Terminology-Dictionaries- Road-Transport-Roads/.Last accessed 03.08.2016. 4.Montazery, M., Hashemi, S. D. High-speed bus transport in Tehran.Public Transport International, 2009, Iss.5, p.30. 5.Aggarwal, M.K., Singh, D. An example of bus rapid transit (BRT) in Delhi.Public Transport International, 2009, September / October, Iss.5, p.28. 6.Rambo, F., Cristobal-Pinto, K. What indicators of quality and passenger turnover can the bus systems of Europe achieve? Public Transport International, 2009, Iss.5, p.22. 7.Danilina, N. V. Scientific and methodological foundations of the formation of a system of «intercepting» parking in major cities (on the example of Moscow).Ph.D.(Eng.) thesis [Nauchno-metodicheskie osnovy formirovanija sistemy «perehvatyvajushhih» stojanok v krupnejshih gorodah (na primere Moskvy). Dis. kand. tehn. nauk].Moscow, 2012, 187 p. 8.Danilina, N., Vlasov, D., System of transport-interchange hubs and «intercepting» parking: Monograph.Saarbrücken, Lap Lambert AcademicPublishing, 2013, 88 p. 9.Danilina, N. V. Intermodal system for mobility demand in the realities of the Russian Federation: reality and forecast.E3S Web of Conferences, ICSC (2016), DOI: 10.1051/e sconf /2016. 10.Vlasov, D. N. Interchange Japanese-style [Peresadka po-japonski].Arhitektura i stroitel’stvo, 2010, Iss.2, pp.22-28. 11.Vlasov, D. N. Regional transport-interchange hubs and their planning concept (on the example of Matsumoto in Japan) [Regional’nye transportno-peresadochnye uzly i ih planirovochnoe reshenie (na primere g. Macumoto v Japonii)].Vestnik MGSU, 2013, Iss., pp.21-28. 12.Vlasov, D. N. Principles of development, oriented to mass types of transport, in planning foreign interchange hubs [Principy zastrojki, orientirovannye na massovye vidy transporta, v planirovanii zarubezhnyh peresadochnyh uzlov].Arhitektura i stroitel’stvo Rossii, 2015, Iss.8, pp.20-29.

Abstract Transparency in transport processes is becoming increasingly important for transport companies to improve internal processes and to be able to compete for customers. One important element to increase transparency is reliable, up-to-date and accurate arrival time prediction, commonly referred to as estimated time of arrival (ETA). ETAs are not easy to determine, especially for intermodal freight transports, in which freight is transported in an intermodal container, using multiple modes of transportation. This computational study describes the structure of an ETA prediction model for intermodal freight transport networks (IFTN), in which schedule-based and non-schedule-based transports are combined, based on machine learning (ML). For each leg of the intermodal freight transport, an individual ML prediction model is developed and trained using the corresponding historical transport data and external data. The research presented in this study shows that the ML approach produces reliable ETA predictions for intermodal freight transport. These predictions comprise processing times at logistics nodes such as inland terminals and transport times on road and rail. Consequently, the outcome of this research allows decision makers to proactively communicate disruption effects to actors along the intermodal transportation chain. These actors can then initiate measures to counteract potential critical delays at subsequent stages of transport. This approach leads to increased process efficiency for all actors in the realization of complex transport operations and thus has a positive effect on the resilience and profitability of IFTNs.

The determinants of mode choice of interregional transport of fish, which is highly perishable, vastly differ from that of other commodities. These determinants are to be identified to improve transport efficiency. A questionnaire survey of shippers is used to collect the data. Highly correlated observed variables are combined to form four latent factors by factor analysis to reduce the errors in modelling. Logical relations among the component variables of latent factors are perceived, and mathematical formulations are used to estimate new variables. It is found that transportation costs and shipment weight contributes to factor 1, while distance contributes to factor 2. However, transportation costs are associated with distance and shipment weight. Thus, the variable, transportation cost per q-km, is estimated. Survey respondents' attitudes are also incorporated into modelling by including qualitative factors obtained by the factor analysis of shippers' preference ratings. A latent class analysis confirmed the existence of heterogeneity among ship-pers. Misrepresentations of effects occur in modelling if the heterogeneity in the data is not considered. No studies have found the best combination of observed variables, latent factors, estimated variables, and qualitative factors, consider-ing shippers' heterogeneity in freight mode choice. Hence, this study is done to find the optimum modelling strategy. Modelling revealed that models built with estimated variables outperformed those built with latent factors. Including qualitative factors along with observed variables and estimated variables showed further improvement. However, the model that includes observed variables, estimated variables, and qualitative factors considering shippers' heterogenei-ty is the best. It was found that the mode selection behaviour of different latent classes of shippers is distinct. A mode shift from road to rail could be achieved by lowering transportation costs and increasing speed, reliability, and safety for fish transport. Expanding roll on–roll off facilities, dedicated freight corridors, parcel trains, refrigerated contain-ers, and piecemeal service by rail promote a mode shift from road to rail and reduce energy usage.

Environmental sustainability is a significant aspect in the sustainable development of modern urban cities, especially in the road transport system. As traffic demands increase, public transport requires more promotion to accommodate the increasing travel demands while maintaining the environmental quality. Public transport, however, is less attractive in vast suburb areas mainly due to its longer travel distance and waiting time. Therefore, this paper proposes a rail-based Park-and-Ride (RPR) scheme to promote public transport in the multimodal transport network. To remedy the heterogeneous distribution of vehicle pollutants in the network, regulations in environmental sensitive districts are required and studied in this paper. To quantitatively evaluate and analyse this joint RPR and environmental regulation strategy in multimodal transport systems, this paper develops an environmental constrained combined modal split and traffic assignment (EC-CMSTA) model. The proposed formulation adopts the concept of fix-point to reformulate the nonlinear complementarity conditions associated with the combined modal split and user equilibrium conditions, which is subsequently incorporated into a VI formulated nonlinear complementarity conditions associated with environmental constraints. The proposed VI formulation can handle a general constraint structure, which enhances the modelling adaptability and flexibility. The strictly monotone and Lipschitz continuity properties of this model are rigorously proved, giving rise to efficient algorithms for the model. A customized projection based self-adaptive gradient projection (SAGP) algorithm is then developed. Numerical studies demonstrate that the EC-MSTA model could enhance the behavioural modelling of network users’ travel decisions and assist in quantitatively evaluating the effectiveness of RPR schemes and environmental regulations.

Taking into account the uncertainties of the factors of in-transit transportation cost, hub transshipment cost, hub construction cost, in-transit transportation time, hub transshipment time, and demand, this study uses triangular fuzzy numbers, expected value criteria, and distribution of credibility measure to minimise the total transportation cost of the hub-and-spoke road-rail combined transport (RRCT) network and the maximum transportation limit time between the origin and destination of the network. Firstly, a non-linear programming mathematical model is constructed for the regional hub-and-spoke RRCT network based on uncertain cost-time-demand. Then, an improved genetic algorithm is designed to obtain an optimized scheme. The algorithm uses genetic algorithm to search the global space, and uses two local search methods, i.e. shift and exchange, to search the local space. Finally, the RRCT network along the Yaan-Linzhi section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway is used as the research object to verify the applicability and effectiveness of the regional hub-and-spoke RRCT network model and the algorithm proposed in the study.

Advances in transport technology have been shown to play a vital role in urban development over millennia. From the engineering and pavement innovations of the Roman road network to the aerospace breakthroughs that enabled jet aircraft, cities have been reshaped by the mobility changes resulting from new designs for moving people and goods. This article explores the urbanization impacts of High-Speed Rail’s introduction in China, which has built the world’s largest High-Speed Rail network in record time. Since High-Speed Rail was launched in Japan in 1964, this technology has worked to reshape intercity travel as a revolutionary transportation alternative. High-Speed Rail has developed steadily across Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland during the 1970s and 1980s. It expanded to Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Sweden in the 1990s. In the 21st century, China began developing High-Speed Rail on an unprecedented scale, and now has a national network that is longer than the totality of the rest of the world’s High-Speed Rail operations combined. China’s High-Speed Rail operation is exerting a transformative influence on urban form and function. This article synthesizes secondary research results to analyse the impacts of HSR on urbanization. These effects include population redistribution, urban spatial expansion and industrial development. We offer a typol-ogy that considers the urban effects of High-Speed Rail at three spatial levels: the station area, the urban jurisdiction, and the regional agglomeration. When organized through our typology, research findings demonstrate that High-Speed Rail influences urban population size, urban spatial layout and industrial development by changing the acces-sibility of cities. We highlight the processes by which High-Speed Rail ultimately affects the urbanization process for people, land use, and industrial development. However, High-Speed Rail’s impacts on urbanization are not always positive. While leveraging the development opportunity enabled by High-Speed Rail, governments around the world should also avoid potential negative impacts by drawing lessons from the experience of High-Speed Rail’s rapid de-ployment in China.

Deliberations on transport development indicate that planning is its most significant aspect. One of the key issues in planning is selecting infrastructure projects for completion that will contribute to achieving the development objectives. The important functions of planning, as well as its complexity, indicate the need to use solutions in the decision-making support field. In Poland, in the area of strategic planning of infrastructure development, methods of supporting decision-making aimed at selecting infrastructure projects, taking into account their degree of compliance with strategic goals, are currently not applied comprehensively. The paper aims to address this gap with MCDA solution basing on review of literature combined with the authors’ experience in transport planning. Therefore, authors presented a proposed tool for supporting decision-making in planning transport development on a strategic level. The presented method allows for assessing infrastructure development projects in road and rail transport. Such assessments take into account a number of criteria corresponding to the main development directions, i.e. sustainable development and quality of life. Due to the method of formulating development objectives, it has been decided that it will be advantageous to apply fuzzy logic, which enables using natural language in decision-making support systems. To allow practical application of fuzzy logic, the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox package available in the MATLAB environment has been employed. The developed model contains a structure along with defined linguistic variables reflecting the decision-making criteria; also, it includes membership functions, inference rules as well as assessment results. The paper also defines the algorithm of decision-making support procedure. For verification purposes, the decision support model was applied in several real-life project evaluation cases, including a variety of projects in construction, development, and renovation of rail and road infrastructure. The deliberations described in this paper indicate the usefulness of fuzzy logic for supporting decision-making in planning transport development. It’s beneficial that the defined criteria can be applied in the case of projects in early preparation phase, enabling their practical application. Implementation of the solution in the MATLAB Fuzzy Logic Toolbox enables achieving fast results of the assessment of decision-maker preference level.

Abstract. Functional classification of the road is important to the construction of sustainable transport systems and proper design of facilities. Mobile laser scanning (MLS) point clouds provide accurate and dense 3D measurements of road scenes, while their massive data volume and lack of structure also bring difficulties in processing. 3D point cloud understanding through deep neural networks achieves breakthroughs since PointNet and arouses wide attention in recent years. In this paper, we study the automatic road type classification of MLS point clouds by employing a point-wise neural network, RandLA-Net, which is designed for consuming large-scale point clouds. An effective local feature aggregation (LFA) module in RandLA-Net preserves the local geometry in point clouds by formulating an enhanced geometric feature vector and learning different point weights in a local neighborhood. Based on this method, we also investigate possible feature combinations to calculate neighboring weights. We train on a colorized point cloud from the city of Hannover, Germany, and classify road points into 7 classes that reveal detailed functions, i.e., sidewalk, cycling path, rail track, parking area, motorway, green area, and island without traffic. Also, three feature combinations inside the LFA module are examined, including the geometric feature vector only, the geometric feature vector combined with additional features (e.g., color), and the geometric feature vector combined with local differences of additional features. We achieve the best overall accuracy (86.23%) and mean IoU (69.41%) by adopting the second and third combinations respectively, with additional features including Red, Green, Blue, and intensity. The evaluation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, but we also observe that different road types benefit the most from different feature settings.

Aim. The presented study aims to develop a conceptual framework for the coordination and development of the competitive advantages of international transit between the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states in an attempt to create a unified transport system within the SCO space.Tasks. The authors assess the prospects of the interconnection and innovative development of the transit transport systems (TTS) of the SCO member states to create a common network of railroads and motorways and a unified transport system within the SCO; analyze the directions and prospects of the digital transformation of the transportation process at interstate junctions; prove that the development of cargo transit by rail, primarily through the improvement of transit transport communication with Afghanistan, is an important prerequisite for ensuring integrated security within the SCO space.Methods. This study uses the methods of systems analysis, evolutionary-institutional theory, econometric modeling, and historical approach.Results. The prospects for TTS interconnection are rooted in the implementation of the Agreement between the SCO member states to create favorable conditions for international road transport. Another promising direction involves creating a common network of railroads to achieve the global goal of establishing a unified transport system within the SCO. Given the fact that the container market has been occupied by Chinese manufacturers, the authors believe that Russian companies can and should take up a significant part of the container platform market (including innovative) within the SCO. The coordination of international transit transport should also be aimed at reducing the empty mileage rates of containers and container platforms. One of the directions for reducing empty mileage includes the formation of a backhaul cargo base and development of logistics schemes. Multimodal (combined) transport requires a single transport document as well as development and implementation of electronic workflows for cargo transit along international transport corridors. To ensure the national security of the SCO member states, first of all, it is necessary to develop rail transport of goods and passengers, which is more subject to control than road transport. It is also necessary to enhance the application of stationary and mobile inspection and examination complexes for the customs and border control of cargo.Conclusions. Realization of the transit transport potential of the SCO member states and creation of a unified transport system within the Organization’s space requires the following conditions to be met: construction of high-end transport communications; expansion of the capacity of overland borders, development of port infrastructure; interconnection of infrastructure integration projects and transit transport systems; interoperability of the transportation process, construction of multimodal transport and logistics centers; digitization of the transportation process, implementation of transport technologies based on artificial intelligence; creation of multimodal digital international corridors; implementation of electronic workfl ws; traceability of cargo transit using electronic seals.

Purpose For the case of Sweden, this paper aims to determine how a range of different infrastructure fees and taxes influences modal split, port throughputs, air emissions, societal costs of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air pollution, as well as logistics costs. Design/methodology/approach The Swedish national freight model is used to simulate a range of different proposed infrastructure fees, one by one and in combination. The volume of emissions of CO2-equivalents, NOx, SOx and PM under the different scenarios is calculated in both volume and monetary terms, by applying national emission factors and EU values for external costs. Findings Road user fees are calculated to have the largest impact on the modal split, GHG emissions and air pollution. The impact increases slightly when road user fees are combined with higher fees for sea and rail and/or gate fees in all Swedish ports. The imposition of gate fees over €30 per truck in all ports leads to shifts in cargo to land-based modes and to ports outside Sweden. The logistics costs in Sweden are found to be three to ten times higher than the benefits of reduced GHG emissions and air pollution, although other benefits to society need to be considered as well. Research limitations/implications Methods which attempt to evaluate alternative approaches to the internalisation of the external costs caused by transport need to be further developed. In particular, they need to encompass a more holistic perspective on “benefits to society”, other than merely reductions in GHG emissions and air pollution. To facilitate international acceptance and adoption, such methods require agreements to be reached on common definitions and routines. Practical implications The results can be used as basis for policy-making. They illustrate the environmental impacts of the fees and taxes one by one and in combination and to what extent these reinforce each other and should be co-ordinated. Social implications The outcomes are relevant to national and international policymakers and authorities, as well as port authorities, shippers and transport companies who need to determine unilateral strategies on how to reduce GHG emissions and air pollution, without undermining their wider business objectives. Originality/value The approach is original in facilitating the testing of policies which impact on the transport system and the environment across different dimensions. The work has additional value in informing policy because of its use of Sweden’s national freight transport model.

The special purpose of the transport and logistics centers of the regions, which provide the needs for logistics services, play a coordinating and integrating role in the transport and logistics system and transportation of goods, necessitates the study of their formation issues, operation and development. The purpose of the article is to study the principles, regional peculiarities of the formation and functioning of transport and logistics centers in the appropriate system, taking into account the foreign experience of such structures. Results. It has been determined that the highest economic efficiency is ensured by integrated logistics services, in which the centers simultaneously provide a different range of logistics services with reducing the cost of shipping. The de-velopment of transport and logistics centers in Europe is carried out under the considerable influence of the state, which allows to obtain relevant competitive advantages. The foreign experience of functioning of transport and logistics centers is considered, where rail, road, water and air modes of transport are combined. The features of the German model of construc-tion of logistics centers are considered, where public and private investments are effectively interacting, and the state is di-rectly involved in all phases of project implementation. The differences of the French model are considered, where the man-agement will be carried out exclusively by private investors, and the role of the state is reduced to granting permits in ac-cordance with the goals of local and regional planning. The characteristic of the construction system and structure of logis-tics hub in Europe is given. The units that should be included in the standard transport and logistics center are highlighted. Requirements for creation of transport and logistics center of the region and principles of its functioning are outlined. The main source of financial support should be revenues from the state and local self-government. The effective functioning of the centers is carried out by providing the conditions for optimizing the management of information flows and harmonizing the economic interests of all participants. The advantages of creating a network of centers are zones formation of optimal service to the regions, the functioning of common border transport zones with a single communication infrastructure and preferen-tial treatment. Keywords: transport and logistics centers, transport industry, region, transport and logistics system, logistics hub.

Reducing the costs of the transport company is one of the key issues in the management of the organization. There are standard ways to reduce the costs of transport companies, the article proposes options for reducing costs through the interaction of several modes of transport, namely, rail and road. The article discusses options for the transportation of goods by a trucking company. For the purpose of reducing operating costs, it is proposed to combine the use of road and rail transport on certain sections of the route of routes of various lengths. The authors made a conclusion about the dependence of the operating costs on the distance when using the above types of transport.

Coal transportation network is mainly integrated transport network of rail, road and waterway transport modes composed. Transport routes play a crucial role for transport networks normal operation. This paper combine with the definition of coal transportation network invulnerability based on edge failure and attack strategy, proposing invulnerability assessment method, combining with China's coal transportation network to analyze network invulnerability in case of side failure.

Due to the problems such as the excessive proportion of road transport and extreme carbon emission situation of China’s transport structure adjustment, this paper combines the fourth-party logistics with the bulk cargo green transport. It is advancing the adjustment of China’s bulk cargo transport structure using fourth-party logistics. This paper improves the particle swarm optimization algorithm to compare the integrated cost and carbon emissions of different bulk fourth-party transport networks to verify the benefits of the fourth-party logistics on bulk cargo transport networks’ cost reduction and emission reduction. The results show that using the fourth-party logistics model to promote the transfer of cargoes from road to rail can reduce the integrated cost of the transport network, reduce carbon emissions, and achieve green transport.

The article deals with a very topical issue of environmental suitability of complex transport chains. Overseas transport chains in finished vehicle logistics (FVL) consist of a series of transport routes in which they successively combine rail, road and sea transport. It is necessary to know the input parameters and their impact on the operation of FVL, especially with the aim of evaluating the air pollutants produced and the energy efficiency (EE) achieved. The article gives a systematic approach in defining input parameters and their evaluation for efficient green transport chain planning. The applicability of the approach is demonstrated on an ongoing FVL of the export flow of luxury vehicles from Europe to Asian markets. Transport chains from four production sites in Central Europe to two loading ports in Koper and Bremerhaven, and in maritime RO-RO transport to four Asian unloading ports are analyzed. The results of the study show the need for more comprehensive planning of export FVL, including environmental assessment at the planning stage. Significant savings in energy consumption and reduction in GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions can be achieved by shifting cargo flows to the southern transportation route. The article enriches the current research on sustainable operation of FVL and provides applied results for infrastructural adaptation of the southern transport route.

In the management of intermodal transportation, incentive contract design problem has significant impacts on the benefit of a multimodal transport operator (MTO). In this paper, we analyze a typical water-rail-road (WRR) intermodal transportation that is composed of three serial transportation stages: water, rail and road. In particular, the entire transportation process is planned, organized, and funded by an MTO that outsources the transportation task at each stage to independent carriers (subcontracts). Due to the variability of transportation conditions, the travel time of each transportation stage depending on the respective carrier’s effort level is unknown (asymmetric information) and characterized as an uncertain variable via the experts’ estimations. Considering the decentralized decision-making process, we interpret the incentive contract design problem for the WRR intermodal transportation as a Stackelberg game in which the risk-neutral MTO serves as the leader and the risk-averse carriers serve as the followers. Within the framework of uncertainty theory, we formulate an uncertain bi-level programming model for the incentive contract design problem under expectation and entropy decision criteria. Subsequently, we provide the analytical results of the proposed model and analyze the optimal time-based incentive contracts by developing a hybrid solution method which combines a decomposition approach and an iterative algorithm. Finally, we give a simulation example to investigate the impact of asymmetric information on the optimal time-based incentive contracts and to identify the value of information for WRR intermodal transportation.

Abstract Integrating different modes of transport (road, rail, air and water) is important for port cities. To accommodate this need, new transport hubs must be built such as airports or sea ports. If ports are to grow, they must be accessible, a feature which is best achieved by building new roads, including fast roads. Poland must develop a network of fast roads that will provide good access to ports. What is equally important is to upgrade the network of national roads to complement fast roads. A key criterion in this case is to ensure that the roads are efficient to minimise time lost for road users and safe. With safety standards and safety management practices varying vastly across the EU, Directive 2008/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council was a way to ensure that countries follow procedures for assessing the impact of road projects on road safety and conduct road safety audits, road safety management and road safety inspections. The main goal of the research was to build mathematical models to combine road safety measures, i.e. injury density (DI) and accident density (DA), with road and traffic factors on longer sections, all based on risk analysis. The practical objective is to use these models to develop tools for assessing how new road projects will impact road safety. Because previous research on models to help estimate injuries (I) or injury density (DI) on long sections was scarce, the authors addressed that problem in their work. The idea goes back to how Poland is introducing procedures for assessing the effects of infrastructure on safety and developing a method to estimate accident indicators to support economic analysis for new roads, a solution applied in JASPERS. Another reason for the research was Poland’s insufficient and ineffective pool of road safety management tools in Poland. The paper presents analyses of several models which achieved satisfactory results. They are consistent with the work of other researchers and the outcomes of previous research conducted by the authors. The authors built the models based on a segmentation of national roads into sections from 10 to 50 km, making sure that they feature consistent cross-sections and average daily traffic volumes. Models were built based on the method described by Jamroz (Jamroz, 2011). Using the available road traffic volume data, each section was assigned variables defining geometric and traffic features. Based on studies conducted on road sections, the variables were either averaged over the entire length of the section or calculated as a percentage of the variable occurring over the entire length: related to traffic volume, roadside environment or cross section

Hydrogen energy combines a set of technologies for the production, transportation, storage and use of a versatile secondary energy carrier — hydrogen. The energy use of hydrogen is formed from the possibilities of environmentfriendly generation of electricity and long-term storage without loss, including on a large scale. Questions related to the consumption of hydrogen as a promising environment-friendly and versatile energy carrier and energy storage in various sectors of the national economy were formulated in the early 70s of the last century after the first oil fuel crisis. It has become obvious that it is necessary to develop new, ecologically optimal energy technologies based on the use of renewable energy sources, nuclear energy, coal and versatile environment-friendly energy carriers, making it possible to replace non-renewable energy resources as these are depleted and become more expensive. Hydrogen as a secondary energy carrier reveals its potential in a global strategy for sustainable energy development in the 21st century, which confronts the challenges of irreversible climate change, unsustainable oil production and increasing environmental pollution. Hydrogen can play a key role in mainline transportation by road and rail, in coastal and international shipping, in air transport, as well as in long-term and seasonal storage of electricity in networks, relying mainly on local renewable energy sources and local raw materials. The decisive element in the commercialization of hydrogen fuel technologies in Russia at the current stage is the formation of cost-effective hydrogen-transport-energy complexes, in particular, within power generating facilities.

Current policies focus on encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in transport to reduce the contribution of this sector to global warming and air pollution. In the short-term, attention is focused on developing renewable fuels. Among them, the so-called advanced biofuels, including non-crop and waste-based biofuels, possess important benefits such as higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings and the capacity not to compete with food markets. Recently, European institutions have agreed on specific targets for the new Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001), including 14% of renewable energy in rail and road transport by 2030. To achieve this, advanced biofuels will be double-counted, and their contribution must be at least 3.5% in 2030 (with a phase-in calendar from 2020). In this work, the fuel properties of blends of regular diesel fuel with four advanced biofuels derived from different sources and production processes are examined. These biofuels are (1) biobutanol produced by microbial ABE fermentation from renewable material, (2) HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) derived from hydrogenation of non-edible oils, (3) biodiesel from waste free fatty acids originated in the oil refining industry, and (4) a novel biofuel that combines fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and glycerol formal esters (FAGE), which contributes to a decrease in the excess of glycerol from current biodiesel plants. Blending ratios include 5, 10, 15, and 20% (% vol.) of biofuel, covering the range expected for biofuels in future years. Pure fuels and some higher ratios are considered as well to complete and discuss the tendencies. In the case of biodiesel and FAME/FAGE blends in diesel, ratios up to 20% meet all requirements set in current fuel quality standards. Larger blending ratios are possible for HVO blends if HVO is additivated to lubricity improvers. For biobutanol blends, the recommended blending ratio is limited to 10% or lower to avoid high water content and low cetane number.

During the 20th century, freight transport in South Africa was employed to attain politicoeconomic ideals, resulting in the overprotection of rail and overregulation of road transport. Increasing industry pressure, combined with the international deregulation trend, led to deregulation in 1988. Myopia resulted in a rail investment hiatus and exponential growth in high-value, long-distance road transport, causing excessive logistics and externality costs for the country. The aim of this study was to propose a freight rail reform agenda based on, (1) lessons from past freight transport policy efforts and (2) the results of freight transport market segmentation driven by models developed over the past two decades. For the study, freight flows were modelled by disaggregating the national input–output model into 372 origin–destination pairs and 71 commodity groups, followed by distance decay gravitymodelling. Logistics costs were calculated by relating commodity-level freight flows to the costs of fulfilling associated logistical functions. The standard management approach of founding strategy development on market-driven segmentation provides a neutral input to steer rail reform discussions in South Africa. Market segmentation points to a dualistic rail reform agenda, enabling both a profit-driven core and a development-driven branch line network. Freight flow insights are steering the policy reform debate towards long-term freight strategy development and optimal freight logistics network design.

Efficient transport solutions are based on multimodal systems, with the dominant role of rail and road transport in land versions of the systems and the connecting and directing part of intermodal terminals, transhipment terminals or warehouse centres. The implementation of transport processes is always associated with the risk of lack of timeliness (quality) or threats to people, equipment and cargo (safety) resulting from human, technical, organizational and global factors like pandemics or war. The article contains a risk mapping method in multimodal transport systems configured to estimate the risk of lowering the quality of logistics services (on-time deliveries, etc.). The method combines factors usually considered separately in studies on individual modes of transport. A formal notation of risk factors as a mathematical model was proposed, and a case study was provided to picture the implementation.

It is imperative to re-design the freight transport modal mix to ensure a shift from road to rail to limit energy consumption and global GHG emissions. However, one of the main barriers to the shift is the ability of the railways to handle consignments from customers with less than ‘unit’ train loads. In such cases, railways have to combine consignments from different customers to form ‘unit’ trains. Combining consignments is a train design optimization process involving designing a trip plan with the minimum number of trains formed and satisfying a set of conditions. However, manually optimizing train design for high-density freight traffic is challenging and practically impossible. Hence, it is essential to develop an automated train design optimization methodology that railways can quickly implement. Among several conditions of train formation, the two key constraints are the ‘number of work events’ and ‘number of block swaps’. However, the existing literature only considers either one of these two constraints in a single decision-making model. We have proposed a train design optimization method based on a genetic algorithm with a priority generator to simultaneously consider both the above-mentioned constraints. The train design optimization method developed has also been demonstrated using real-life data.

In the contemporary urban environment of mass transit, it falls to a small group of public officers to keep large number of travellers safe. The small size of their force and the often limited powers they exert mean that these public safety ‘transit officers’ must project more authority and control than they really have. It is this ambience of authority and control which, in most situations they encounter and seek to influence, is enough to keep the public safe. This paper examines the ambience of a group of transit officers working on the railway lines of an Australian capital city. We seek to show how transit officers are both influenced by, and seek to influence, the ambience of their workplace and the public spaces they inhabit whilst on duty, and here we take ambience to apply to the surrounding atmosphere, the aura, and the emotional environment of a place or situation: the setting, tone, or mood. For these transit officers to keep the public safe, they must themselves remain safe. A transit officer who is disabled in a confrontation with a violent offender is unable to provide protection to his or her passengers. Thus, in the culture of the transit officers, their own workplace safety takes on a higher significance. It affects not just themselves. The ambience exuded by transit officers, and how transit officers see their relationship with the travelling public, their management and other organisational work groups, is an important determinant of their work group’s safety culture. Researching the Working Lives of Transit Officers in Perth Our discussion draws on an ethnographic study of the working lives and communication cultures of transit officers (TOs) employed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA) of Western Australia (WA). Transit officers have argued that to understand fully the challenges of their work it is necessary to spend time with them as they undertake their daily duties: roster in, roster out. To this end, the research team and the employer organisation secured an ARC Linkage Grant in partnership with the PTA to fund doctoral candidate and ethnographer Christine Teague to research the workers’ point of view, and the workers’ experiences within the organisation. The two-hundred TOs are unique in the PTA. Neither of the other groups who ride with them on the trains, the drivers and revenue protection staff (whose sole job is to sell and check tickets), experiences the combination of intense contact with passengers, danger of physical injury or group morale. The TOs of the PTA in Perth operate from a central location at the main train station and the end stations on each line. Here there are change lockers where they can lock up their uniforms and equipment such as handcuffs and batons when not on duty, an equipment room where they sign out their radios, and ticket-checking machines. At the main train station there is also a gym, a canteen and holding cells for offenders they detain. From these end stations and central location, the TOs fan out across the network to all suburbs where they either operate from stations or onboard the trains. The TOs also do ‘delta van’ duty providing rapid, mobile back-up support for their colleagues on stations or trains, and providing transport for arrested persons to the holding cell or police lock up. TOs are on duty whenever the trains are running–but the evenings and nights are when they are mainly rostered on. This is when trouble mostly occurs. The TOs’ work ends only after the final train has completed its run and all offenders who may require detaining and charging have been transferred into police custody. While the public perceive that security is the TOs’ most frequent role, much of the work involves non-confrontational activity such as assisting passengers, checking tickets and providing a reassuring presence. One way to deal with an ambiguous role is to claim an ambience of power and authority regardless. Various aspects of the TO role permit and hinder this, and the paper goes on to consider aspects of ambience in terms of fear and force, order and safety, and role confusion. An Ambience of Fear and Force The TOs are responsible for front-line security in WA’s urban railway network. Their role is to offer a feeling of security for passengers using the rail network after the bustle of the work day finishes, and is replaced by the mainly recreational travels of the after hours public. This is the time when some passengers find the prospect of evening travel on the public transport rail network unsettling–so unsettling that it was a 2001 WA government election promise (WA Legislative Council) that every train leaving the city centre after 7pm would have two TOs riding on it. Interestingly, recruitment levels have never been high enough for this promise to be fully kept. The working conditions of the TOs reflect the perception, and to an extent, the reality that some late night travel on public transport involves negotiating an edgy ambience with an element of risk, rubbing shoulders with people who may be loud, rowdy, travelling in a group, and or drug and alcohol affected. As Fred (all TO names are pseudonyms) comments: You’re not dealing with rational people, you’re not dealing with ‘people’: most of the people you’re dealing with are either drunk or under the influence of drugs, so they’re not rational, they don’t hear you, they don’t understand what you’re saying, they just have no sense of what’s right or wrong, you know? Especially being under the influence, so I mean, you can talk till you’re blue in the face with somebody who’s drunk or on drugs, I mean, all you have to say is one thing. ‘Oh, can I see your ticket please’, ‘oh, why do I need a fucking ticket’, you know? They just don’t get simple everyday messages. Dealing with violence and making arrest is a normal part of this job. Jo described an early experience in her working life as a TO:Within the first week of coming out of course I got smacked on the side of the head, but this lady had actually been certified, like, she was nuts. She was completely mental and we were just standing on the train talking and I’ve turned around to say something to my partner and she was fine, she was as calm as, and I turned around and talked to my partner and the next thing I know I ended up with her fist to the side of my head. And I went ‘what the hell was that’? And she went off, she went absolutely ballistic. I ended up arresting her because it was assault on an officer whether she was mental or not so I ended up arresting her.Although Jo here is describing how she experienced an unprovoked assault in the early days of her career as a TO, one of the most frequent precursors to a TO injury occurs when the TO is required to make an arrest. The injury may occur when the passenger to be arrested resists or flees, and the TO gives chase in dark or treacherous circumstances such as railway reserves and tunnels, or when other passengers, maybe friends or family of the original person of concern, involve themselves in an affray around the precipitating action of the arrest. In circumstances where capsicum spray is the primary way of enforcing compliance, with batons used as a defence tool, group members may feel that they can take on the two TOs with impunity, certainly in the first instance. Even though there are security cameras on trains and in stations, and these can be cued to cover the threatening or difficult situations confronting TOs, the conflict is located in the here-and-now of the exchanges between TOs and the travelling public. This means the longer term consequence of trouble in the future may hold less sway with unruly travellers than the temptation to try to escape from trouble in the present. In discussing the impact of remote communications, Rubert Murdoch commented that these technologies are “a powerful influence for civilised behaviour. If you are arranging a massacre, it will be useless to shoot the cameraman who has so inconveniently appeared on the scene. His picture will already be safe in the studio five thousand miles away and his final image may hang you” (Shawcross 242). Unfortunately, whether public aggression in these circumstances is useless or not, the daily experience of TOs is that the presence of closed circuit television (CCTV) does not prevent attacks upon them: nor is it a guarantee of ‘civilised behaviour’. This is possibly because many of the more argumentative and angry members of the public are dis-inhibited by alcohol or other drugs. Police officers can employ the threat or actual application of stun guns to control situations in which they are outnumbered, but in the case of TOs they can remain outnumbered and vulnerable until reinforcements arrive. Such reinforcements are available, but the situation has to be managed through the communication of authority until the point where the train arrives at a ‘manned’ station, or the staff on the delta vehicle are able to support their colleagues. An Ambience of Order and Safety Some public transport organisations take this responsibility to sustain an ambience of order more seriously than others. The TO ethnographer, Christine Teague, visited public transport organisations in the UK, USA and Canada which are recognised as setting world-class standards for injury rates of their staff. In the USA particularly, there is a commitment to what is called ‘the broken windows’ theory, where a train is withdrawn from service promptly if it is damaged or defaced (Kelling and Coles; Maple and Mitchell). According to Henry (117): The ‘Broken Windows’ theory suggests that there is both a high correlation and a causal link between community disorder and more serious crime: when community disorder is permitted to flourish or when disorderly conditions or problems are left untended, they actually cause more serious crime. ‘Broken windows’ are a metaphor for community disorder which, as Wilson and Kelling (1982) use the term, includes the violation of informal social norms for public behaviour as well as quality of life offenses such as littering, graffiti, playing loud radios, aggressive panhandling, and vandalism.This theory implies that the physical ambience of the train, and by extension the station, may be highly influential in terms of creating a safe working environment. In this case of ‘no broken window’ organisations, the TO role is to maintain a high ‘quality of life’ rather than being a role predominantly about restraining and bringing to justice those whose behaviour is offensive, dangerous or illegal. The TOs in Perth achieve this through personal means such as taking pride in their uniforms, presenting a good-natured demeanour to passengers and assisting in maintaining the high standard of train interiors. Such a priority, and its link to reduced workforce injury, suggests that a perception of order impacts upon safety. It has long been argued that the safety culture of an organisation affects the safety performance of that organisation (Pidgeon; Leplat); but it has been more recently established that different cultural groupings in an organisation conceive and construct their safety culture differently (Leith). The research on ‘safety culture’ raises a problematic which is rarely addressed in practice. That problematic is this: managers frequently engage with safety at the level of instituting systems, while workers engage with safety in terms of behaviour. When Glendon and Litherland comment that, contrary to expectations, they could find no relationship between safety culture and safety performance, they were drawing attention to the fact that much managerial safety culture is premised upon systems involving tick boxes and the filling in of report forms. The broken window approach combines the managerial tick box with managerial behaviour: a dis-ordered train is removed from service. To some extent a general lack of fit between safety culture and safety performance endorses Everett’s view that it is conceptually inadequate to conceive organisations as cultures: “the conceptual inadequacy stems from the failure to distinguish between culture and behavioural features of organizational life” (238). The general focus upon safety culture as a way of promoting improvements in safety performance assumes that compliance with a range of safety systems will guarantee a safe workplace. Such an assumption, however, risks positioning the injured worker as responsible for his or her own predicament and sets up an environment in which some management officials are wont to seek ways in which that injured worker’s behaviour failed to conform with safety rules or safety processes. Yet there are roles which place workers in harm’s way, including military duties, law enforcement and some emergency services. Here, the work becomes dangerous as it becomes disorderly. An Ambience of Roles and Confusion As the research reported here progressed, it became clear that the ambience around the presentation of the self in the role of a TO (Goffman) was an important part of how ‘safety’ was promoted and enacted in their work upon the PTA (WA) trains, face to face with the travelling public. Goffman’s view of all people, not specifically TOs, is that: Regardless of the particular objective which the individual has in mind and of his motive for having this objective, it will be in his interests to control the conduct of the others, especially their responsive treatment of him. This will largely be through influencing the perception and definition that others will come to formulate of him. He will influence them by expressing himself in such a way that the kind of impression given off will lead them to act voluntarily in accordance with his own plan. (3)This ‘influencing of perception’ is an important element of performing the role of a TO. This task of the TOs is made all the more difficult because of confusions about their role in relation to two other officers: police (who have more power to act in situations of public safety) and revenue project officers (who have less), as we now discuss. The aura of the TO role borrows somewhat from those quintessential law and order officers: the police. TOs work in pairs, like many police, to support each other. They have a range of legal powers including the power of arrest, and they carry handcuffs, a baton and capsicum spray as a means of helping ensure their safety and effectiveness in circumstances where they might be outnumbered. The tools of their trade are accessibly displayed on heavy leather belts around their waists and their uniforms have similarities with police uniforms. However, in some ways these similarities are problematic, because TOs are not afforded the same respect as police. This situation underlines of the ambiguities negotiated within the ambience of what it is to be a TO, and how it is to conduct oneself in that role. Notwithstanding the TOs’ law and order responsibilities, public perceptions of the role and some of the public’s responses to the officers can position these workers as “plastic cops” (Teague and Leith). The penultimate deterrent of police officers, the stun gun (Taser), is not available to TOs who are expected to control all incidents arising on duty through the fact that they operate in pairs, with capsicum spray available and, as a last resort, are authorised to use their batons in self defence. Furthermore, although TOs are the key security and enforcement staff in the PTA workforce, and are managed separately from related staff roles, they believe that the clarity of this distinction is compromised because of similarities in the look of Revenue Protection Officers (RPOs). RPOs work on the trains to check that passengers have tickets and have paid the correct fares, and obtain names and addresses to issue infringement notices when required. They are not PTA employees, but contracted staff from an outside company. They also work in pairs. Significantly, the RPO uniform is in many respects identical to that of the TO, and this appears to be a deliberate management choice to make the number of TOs seem greater than it is: extending the TO ambience through to the activities of the RPOs. However, in the event of a disturbance, TOs are required and trained to act, while RPOs are instructed not to get involved; even though the RPOs appear to the travelling public to be operating in the role of a law-and-order-keeper, RPOs are specifically instructed not to get involved in breaches of the peace or disruptive passenger behaviour. From the point of view of the travelling public, who observe the RPO waiting for TOs to arrive, it may seems as if a TO is passively standing by while a chaotic situation unravels. As Angus commented: I’ve spoken to quite a few members of public and received complaints from them about transit officers and talking more about the incident have found out that it was actually [RPOs] that are dealing with it. So it’s creating a bad image for us …. It’s Transits that are copping all the flak for it … It is dangerous for us and it’s a lot of bad publicity for us. It’s hard enough, the job that we do and the lack of respect that we do get from people, we don’t need other people adding to it and making it harder. Indeed, it is not only the travelling public who can mistake the two uniforms. Mike tells of an “incident where an officer [TO] has called for backup on a train and the guys have got off [the train at the next station] and just stood there, and he didn’t realise that they are actually [revenue protection] officers, so he effectively had no backup. He thought he did, but he didn’t.” The RPO uniform may confer an ambience of power borrowed from TOs and communicated visually, but the impact is to compromise the authority of the TO role. Unfortunately, what could be a complementary role to the TOs becomes one which, in the minds of the TO workforce, serves to undermine their presence. This effect of this role confusion is to dilute the aura of authority of the TOs. At one end of a power continuum the TO role is minimised by those who see it as a second-rate ‘Wannabe cop’ (Teague and Leith 2008), while its impact is diluted at the other end by an apparently deliberate confusion between the TO broader ‘law and order’ role, and the more limited RPO revenue collection activities. Postlude To the passengers of the PTA in Perth, the presence and actions of transit officers appear as unremarkable as the daily commute. In this ethnographic study of their workplace culture, however, the transit officers have revealed ways in which they influence the ambience of the workplace and the public spaces they inhabit whilst on duty, and how they are influenced by it. While this ambient inter-relationship is not documented in the organisation’s occupational safety and health management system, the TOs are aware that it is a factor in their level at safety at work, both positively and negatively. Clearly, an ethnography study is conducted at a certain point in time and place, and culture is a living and changing expression of human interaction. The Public Transport Authority of Western Australia is committed to continuous improvement in safety and to the investigation of all ways and means in which to support TOs in their daily activities. This is evident not only in their support of the research and their welcoming of the ethnographer into the workforce and onto the tracks, but also in their robust commitment to change as the findings of the research have progressed. In particular, changes in the ambient TO culture and in the training and daily practices of TOs have already resulted from this research or are under active consideration. Nonetheless, this project is a cogent indicator of the fact that a safety culture is critically dependent upon intangible but nonetheless important factors such as the ambience of the workplace and the way in which officers are able to communicate their authority to others. References Everett, James. “Organizational Culture and Ethnoecology in Public Relations Theory and Practice.” Public Relations Research Annual. Vol. 2. Eds. Larissa Grunig and James Grunig. Hillsdale, NJ, 1990. 235-251. Glendon, Ian, and Debbie Litherland. “Safety Climate Factors, Group Differences and Safety Behaviour in Road Construction.” Safety Science 39.3 (2001): 157-188. Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life. London: Penguin, 1959. Henry, Vincent. The Comstat Paradigm: Management Accountability in Policing, Business and the Public Sector. New York: Looseleaf Law Publications, 2003. Kelling, George, and Catherine Coles. Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities. New York: Touchstone, 1996. Leith, David. Workplace Culture and Accidents: How Management Can Communicate to Prevent Injuries. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag, 2008. Leplat, Jacques. “About Implementation of Safety Rules.” Safety Science 29.3 (1998): 189-204. Maple, Jack, and Chris Mitchell. The Crime Fighter: How You Can Make Your Community Crime-Free. New York: Broadway Books, 1999. Pidgeon, Nick. “Safety Culture and Risk Management in Organizations.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 22.1 (1991): 129-140. Shawcross, William. Rupert Murdoch. London: Chatto & Windus, 1992. Teague, Christine, and David Leith. “Men of Steel or Plastic Cops? The Use of Ethnography as a Transformative Agent.” Transforming Information and Learning Conference Transformers: People, Technologies and Spaces, Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, 2008. ‹http://conferences.scis.ecu.edu.au/TILC2008/documents/2008/teague_and_leith-men_of_steel_or_plastic_cops.pdf›. Wilson, James, and George Kelling. “Broken Windows.” The Atlantic Monthly (Mar. 1982): 29-38. WA Legislative Council. “Metropolitan Railway – Transit Guards 273 [Hon Ed Dermer to Minister of Transport Hon. Simon O’Brien].” Hansard 19 Mar. 2009: 2145b.

IntroductionWhat does it mean to be abroad in the modern Australian context? Australia has developed as a country where people increasingly travel both domestically and abroad. Tourism Research Australia reports that 9.6 million resident departures are forecast for 2015-16 and that this will increase to 13.2 million in 2024–25 (Tourism Forecast). This article will identify the development of the Australian culture of travel abroad, the changes that have taken place in Australian society and the conceptual shift of what it means to travel abroad in modern Australia.The traditions of abroad stem from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Grand Tour notion where Europeans and Britons travelled on or to the continent to expand their knowledge and experience. While travel at this time focused on history, culture and science, it was very much the domain of the upper classes (Cooper). The concept of the tourist is often credited with Thomas Cook’s first package tour in 1841, which used railways to facilitate trips for pleasure (Cooper). Other advances at the time popularised the trip abroad. Steamships, expanded rail and road networks all contributed to an age of emerging mobility which saw the development of travel to a multi-dimensional experience open to a great many more people than ever before. This article explores three main waves of influence on the Australian concept of abroad and how each has shifted the experience and meaning of what it is to travel abroad.Australians Abroad The post-war period saw significant changes to Australian society, particularly advances in transport, which shaped the way Australians travelled in the 1950s and 1960s. On the domestic front, Australia began manufacturing Holden cars with Prime Minister Ben Chifley unveiling the first Holden “FX” on 29 November 1948. Such was its success that over 500,000 Holden cars were produced by the end of the next decade (Holden). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the government established a program to standardise railway gauges around the country, making direct travel between Melbourne and Sydney possible for the first time. Australians became more mobile and their enthusiasm for interstate travel flowed on to international transport (Lee).Also, during the 1950s, Australia experienced an influx of migrants from Southern Europe, followed by the Assisted Passage Scheme to attract Britons in the late 1950s and through the 1960s (“The Changing Face of Modern Australia”). With large numbers of new Australians arriving in Australia by ship, these ships could be filled for their return journey to Britain and Europe with Australian tourists. Travel by ship, usually to the “mother country,” took up to two months time, and communication with those “back home” was limited. By the 1960s travelling by ship started to give way to travel by air. The 1950s saw Qantas operate Royal flights for Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh for their Australian tour, and in 1956 the airline fleet of 34 propeller drive aircraft carried a record number of passengers to the Melbourne Olympics. On 14 January 1958 Qantas launched the first world service from Melbourne flying the Kangaroo Route (via India) and the Southern Cross Route (via the United States) and before long, there were eight such services operating weekly (Qantas). This developing network of international air services connected Australia to the world in a way it had not been previously (Lee).Such developments in Australian aviation were significant on two fronts. Firstly, air travel was a much faster, easier, and more glamorous means of travel (Bednarek) despite the cost, comfort, safety, and capacity issues. The increase in air travel resulted in a steady decline of international travel by boat. Secondly, air travel abroad offered Australians from all walks of life the opportunity to experience other cultures, ideas, fashions, and fads from abroad. These ideas were fed into a transforming Australian society more quickly than they had been in the past.Social change during the late 1950s and into the 1960s connected Australia more closely to the world. The Royal Tour attracted the attention of the British Empire, and the Melbourne Olympics drew international attention. It was the start of television in Australia (1956) which gave Australians connectivity in a way not experienced previously. Concurrent with these advances, Australian society enjoyed rising standards of living, increased incomes, a rise in private motorcar ownership, along with greater leisure time. Three weeks paid holiday was introduced in NSW in 1958 and long service leave soon followed (Piesse). The confluence of these factors resulted in increased domestic travel and arguably altered the allure of abroad. Australians had the resources to travel in a way that they had not before.The social desire for travel abroad extended to the policy level with the Australian government’s 1975 introduction of the Working Holiday Programme (WHP). With a particular focus on young people, its aim was to foster closer ties and cultural exchange between Australia and partner countries (Department of Immigration and Boarder Protection). With cost and time commitments lessened in the 1960s and bilateral arrangements for the WHP in the 1970s, travel abroad became much more widespread and, at least in part, reduced the tyranny of distance. It is against the backdrop of increasingly connected transport networks, modernised communication, and rapid social change that the foundation for a culture of mobility among Australians was further cemented.Social Interactions AbroadDistance significantly shapes the experience of abroad. Proximity has a long association with the volume and frequency of communication exchange. Libai et al. observed that the geographic, temporal, and social distance may be much more important than individual characteristics in communication exchange. Close proximity fosters interpersonal interaction where discussion of experiences can lead to decision-making and social arrangements whilst travelling. Social interaction abroad has been grounded in similarity, social niceties, a desire to belong to a social group of particular travellers, and the need for information (Harris and Prideaux). At the same time, these interactions also contribute to the individual’s abroad experience. White and White noted, “the role of social interaction in the active construction of self as tourist and the tourist experience draws attention to how tourists self-identify social worlds in which they participate while touring” (43). Similarly, Holloway observed of social interaction that it is “a process of meaning making where individuals and groups shape understandings and attitudes through shared talk within their own communities of critique” (237).The unique combination of social interaction and place forms the experiences one has abroad. Cresswell observed that the geographical location and travellers’ sense of place combine to produce a destination in the tourism context. It is against this backdrop of material and immaterial, mobile and immobile, fixed and fluid intersections where social relations between travellers take place. These points of social meeting, connectivity and interaction are linked by way of networks within the destination or during travel (Mavric and Urry) and contribute to its production of unique experiences abroad.Communicating Abroad Communication whilst abroad, has changed significantly since the turn of the century. The merging of the corporeal and technological domains during travel has impacted the entire experience of travel. Those who travelled to faraway lands by ship in the 1950s were limited to letter writing and the use of telegrams for urgent or special communication. In the space of less than 60 years, the communication landscape could not look more different.Mobile phones, tablets, and laptops are all carried alongside the passport as the necessities of travel. Further, Wi-Fi connectivity at airports, on transport, at accommodation and in public spaces allows the traveller to continue “living” at home—at least in the technological sense—whilst physically being abroad. This is not just true of Australians. Global Internet use has grown by 826.9% from 361 million users in 2000 to 3.3 billion users in 2015. In addition, there were 7.1 billion global SIM connections and 243 million machine-to-machine connections by the end of 2014 (GSMA Intelligence). The World Bank also reported a global growth in mobile telephone subscriptions, per 100 people, from 33.9 in 2005 to 96.3 in 2014. This also means that travellers can be socially present while physically away, which changes the way we see the world.This adoption of modern communication has changed the discourse of “abroad” in a number of ways. The 24-hour nature of the Internet allows constant connectivity. Channels that are always open means that information about a travel experience can be communicated as it is occurring. Real time communication means that ideas can be expressed synchronously on a one-to-one or one-to-many basis (Litvin et al.) through hits, clicks, messages, on-line ratings, comments and the like. Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, Viber, Twitter, TripAdvisor, blogs, e-mails and a growing number of channels allow for multifaceted, real time communication during travel.Tied to this, the content of communicating the travel experience has also diversified from the traditional written word. The adage that “a picture tells a thousand words” is poignantly relevant here. The imagery contributes to the message and brings with it a degree of tone and perspective and, at the same time, adds to the volume being communicated. Beyond the written word and connected with images, modern communication allows for maps and tracking during the trip. How a traveller might be feeling can be captured with emojis, what they think of an experience can be assessed and rated and, importantly, this can be “liked” or commented on from those “at home.”Technologically-enhanced communication has changed the traveller’s experience in terms of time, interaction with place, and with people. Prior to modern communication, the traveller would reflect and reconstruct travel tales to be recounted upon their return. Stories of adventure and travels could be malleable, tailored to audience, and embellished—an individual’s recount of their individual abroad experience. However, this has shifted so that the modern traveller can capture the aspects of the experience abroad on screen, upload, share and receive immediate feedback in real time, during travel. It raises the question of whether a traveller is actually experiencing or simply recording events. This could be seen as a need for validation from those at home during travel as each interaction and experience is recorded, shared and held up for scrutiny by others. It also raises the question of motivation. Is the traveller travelling for self or for others?With maps, photos and images at each point, comments back and forth, preferences, ratings, records of social interactions with newfound friends “friended” or “tagged” on Facebook, it could be argued that the travel is simply a chronological series of events influenced from afar; shaped by those who are geographically distanced.Liquid Modernity and Abroad Cresswell considered tourist places as systems of mobile and material objects, technologies, and social relations that are produced, imagined, recalled, and anticipated. Increasingly, developments in communication and closeness of electronic proximity have closed the gap of being away. There is now an unbroken link to home during travel abroad, as there is a constant and real time exchange of events and experiences, where those who are travelling and those who are at home are overlapping rather than discrete networks. Sociologists refer to this as “mobility” and it provides a paradigm that underpins the modern concept of abroad. Mobility thinking accepts the movement of individuals and the resulting dynamism of social groups and argues that actual, virtual, and imagined mobility is critical to all aspects of modern life. Premised on “liquid modernity,” it asserts that people, objects, images, and information are all moving and that there is an interdependence between these movements. The paradigm asserts a network approach of the mobile (travellers, stories, experiences) and the fixed (infrastructure, accommodation, devices). Furthermore, it asserts that there is not a single network but complex intersections of flow, moving at different speed, scale and viscosity (Sheller and Urry). This is a useful way of viewing the modern concept of abroad as it accepts a level of maintained connectivity during travel. The technological interconnectivity within these networks, along with the mobile and material objects, contributes to overlapping experiences of home and abroad.ConclusionFrom the Australian perspective, the development of a transport network, social change and the advent of technology have all impacted the experience abroad. What once was the realm of a select few and a trip to the mother country, has expanded to a “golden age” of glamour and excitement (Bednarek). Travel abroad has become part of the norm for individuals and for businesses in an increasingly global society.Over time, the experience of “abroad” has also changed. Travel and non-travel now overlap. The modern traveller can be both at home and abroad. Modernity and mobility have influenced the practice of the overseas where the traveller’s experience can be influenced by home and vice-versa simultaneously. Revisiting the modern version of the “grand tour” could mean standing in a crowded gallery space of The Louvre with a mobile phone recording and sharing the Mona Lisa experience with friends and family at home. It could mean exploring the finest detail and intricacies of the work from home using Google Art Project (Ambroise).While the lure of the unique and different provides an impetus for travel, it is undeniable that the meaning of abroad has changed. In some respects it could be argued that abroad is only physical distance. Conversely overseas travel has now melded into Australian social life in such a way that it cannot be easily unpicked from other aspects. The traditions that have seen Australians travel and experience abroad have, in any case, provided a tradition of travel which has impacted modern, social and cultural life and will continue to do so.ReferencesAustralian Government. Austrade. Tourism Forecasts 2016. Tourism Research Australia, Canberra. 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