<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>TRB Publications Index</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/</link><atom:link href="http://pubsindex.trb.org/common/TRIS Suite/feeds/rss.aspx?tc=NN%3AAfe" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><description></description><language>en-us</language><copyright>Copyright © 2015. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright><docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs><managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor><webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster><image><title>TRB Publications Index</title><url>http://pubsindex.trb.org/Images/PageHeader-wTitle.png</url><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/</link></image><item><title>In Pursuit of Speed: Findings and Recommendations</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2622013</link><description><![CDATA[At the request of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) the Transportation Research Board convened a committee of 19 experts to assess the applicability of high-speed ground transportation (HSGT) technologies to meet the demand for passenger transportation service in high-density travel markets and corridors in the United States. The results of the assessment were published in 1991 as Special Report 233 - In Pursuit of Speed: New Options for Intercity Passenger Transport. The findings and recommendations of the committee are summarized here. A list of committee members is included.]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 15 Nov 2025 18:14:30 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2622013</guid></item><item><title>Effects of Price on Transport Equity: New Evidence from Long-Distance Travel in Vietnam</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2587119</link><description><![CDATA[This paper investigates the impact of price on transport equity in Vietnam. Utilizing data from a comprehensive survey of 2754 passengers who selected passenger cars, intercity buses, railways, or airplanes, the study conducts inequity indicator-based analyses to examine variations in fare (or price for passenger cars) equity across these long-distance travel modes. The findings reveal that intercity buses offer more equitable fares compared to alternative options, highlighting the significant role fare equity plays in mode choice preferences. Specifically, passengers are more likely to choose intercity buses over railways and airplanes because of their more equitable fare structures. In contrast, regional rail services exhibit considerable horizontal inequity, as their fares are generally more expensive than those of intercity buses and even passenger cars. In addition, fare equity varies by region within Vietnam. Notably, both intercity buses and rail services are less attractive in the Northern Midlands and Mountains because of high ticket prices, reflecting regional spatial inequities. This study provides valuable insights into how fare equity influences mode choice for long-distance travel in Vietnam and offers guidance for fare policy and transportation planning by emphasizing the importance of equitable fare structures.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 11 Aug 2025 16:30:52 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2587119</guid></item><item><title>Implementation of the National Intercity Bus Atlas</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2577107</link><description><![CDATA[This report documents the purposes and methods of implementing and maintaining the National Intercity Bus Atlas, an online interactive map and database of the nation’s intercity bus network. The report provides (1) a detailed account of data collection, training, and engagement activities used to instruct transportation service providers on the benefits of having their data on the Intercity Bus Atlas and (2) instructions on how to submit data using General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), a user-facing platform for presenting transit schedule and route information. Further, the report documents potential applications of the Intercity Bus Atlas data in planning and policymaking. The report will be useful to state department of transportation (DOT) planners and intercity bus service providers seeking to develop and maintain the interactive online atlas of intercity bus transit services within the United States.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Jul 2025 09:59:53 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2577107</guid></item><item><title>Model for Intercity Railway Schedule Optimization Incorporating Metrorail Transfers</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2387013</link><description><![CDATA[The promotion of multimodal coordination is of great significance for the joint development of diverse urban transportation systems. Focusing on a comprehensive urban passenger transport hub that converges both intercity modes and multiple inner-city modes, our study aims to incorporate intercity railway and Metrorail coordination into train scheduling optimization to enhance transfer efficiency and provide a seamless service for passengers in urban railway networks. By considering the variety of passenger demands in different transport modes (e.g., rail transit and traditional mainline railway), train loading capacity, and potential disruption scenarios, we specifically developed a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model to simultaneously generate the coordination strategies, arrival/departure times of trains at each station, and the number of carriages in service in the network. To enhance computational efficiency, we proposed several improvement strategies involving the model linearization to reformulate the MINLP model into a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model and the determination of appropriate big-M values. Finally, numerical experiments based on historical passenger data from a realistic urban railway network in China were implemented to verify the effectiveness of our approach. The results demonstrate that our intercity railway and Metrorail coordination strategies could, in practice, significantly improve passenger transfer efficiency by over 35% compared with the train schedule without coordination.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 10 Jun 2024 08:45:18 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2387013</guid></item><item><title>Testing the Forecasting Power of Statistical Models for Intercity Rail Passenger Flows in Turkey</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2374011</link><description><![CDATA[While going through a major rail transformation, it is important to develop reliable estimation models for rail passenger flows (RPFs) in Turkey. There are two main approaches in RPF estimation, regressions and autoregressive integrated moving-average (ARIMA) models, both of which were in this study developed using the daily RPF data for the period 2011–2015. The ARIMA models (with some variations) were used to forecast first the daily flows in 2016, during which travel restrictions for summer resulted in reduced volumes, successfully captured in the updated ARIMA model. The regression models predicted the expected demand during the restrictions, enabling evaluation of the impact of restrictions, which also showed the models’ power over the longer term. The forecasts were extended to 2017, 2018, and 2019 data. The regression results produced more reliable forecasts over the long term, whereas more accurate predictions were obtained by ARIMA-Sliding (FA-Sld) for short-term planning purposes.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 06 May 2024 09:30:26 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2374011</guid></item><item><title>Evaluating Accessibility Based on the Combined High-Speed Rail and Air Transportation Network in China</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2108254</link><description><![CDATA[Both high-speed rail (HSR) and air transportation networks have important impacts on accessibility to cities. However, few attempts have been made to analyze the combined modal accessibility of HSR and air, especially in the case of China. To fill this gap, this study aims to measure accessibility under a combined HSR and air transportation network in China. Average travel time (ATT), weighted average travel time (WATT), and potential accessibility (PA) are employed as indicators of accessibility. The results show that inter-urban accessibility under the combined network shows a decreasing trend from the central to the surrounding region, with the level of combined network urban accessibility significantly higher than that of either individual network. Under the ATT, WATT, and PA indicators, the combined network outperforms the HSR network by 46.53%, 47.69%, and 49.23%, respectively, and the airline network by 15.49%, 13.17%, and 75.45%, respectively. In addition, the combined network shows a more equitable distribution of accessibility than that of the HSR network.]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2023 13:41:49 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2108254</guid></item><item><title>Through Running and Integration of Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Transit Administration Regulated Passenger Trains: A Path Toward Mixing Intercity, Commuter, Metro, and Light Rail on the Same Tracks</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1999009</link><description><![CDATA[U.S. rail transit (subways, metros, and light rail) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulated heavy rail (commuter, intercity and regional rail) operate completely separately in revenue service. This necessitates transfers between the modes at terminals. While not unique to the U.S.A., its version of this practice is extreme and prevents the development of robust seamless rail networks. Especially in the post-Covid environment, this leaves commuter rail in search of a mission and rail transit isolated from suburbs. This paper discusses the statutory regulatory scheme that divides the two modes in the U.S.A. It will analyze the justification for the segregation and its history. Such issues include potential collisions, weight, crashworthiness, electrification, signaling, loading gauge, platform height, and operating practices. This paper concludes that the regulatory barrier preventing an FRA-regulated train from going onto a non-FRA railroad are surmountable. Running through trains between the FRA-regulated system and the rail transit network would enhance regional networks. The “Karlsruhe model” in Germany and the through running of regional trains onto the Tokyo subway network are two prime examples. Recent technological advances—such as dual mode battery multiple units, robust signaling systems such as Communications Based Train Control and Positive Train Control, and advanced car body designs able to deal with different loading gauges—make through running more practical. With little or no new right-of-way, it is possible to create far more useful rail networks. Potential shared networks at the conceptual level are discussed for Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Dallas, and Sacramento.]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 2022 09:19:21 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1999009</guid></item><item><title>Comparative Analysis of the Influence of Transport Modes on Tourism: High-Speed Rail or Air? City-Level Evidence from China</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1996204</link><description><![CDATA[This paper quantifies and compares the influence of two modes of transport on tourism, namely, high-speed rail (HSR) and air travel, and explores their substitute or complementary relationships. To facilitate the analysis, we apply data from 291 prefectural administrative cities in China from 2003 to 2019. Empirical tests show that both modes have a significant positive influence on the development of tourism. Moreover, the effect of air travel is greater than that of HSR. The findings remain robust and reliable with changes in the explanatory variables and sample size, and with regard to time window adjustment and endogeneity. Further, we explore the differences in the strength of the influences and find the two modes exhibit various effects according to regional heterogeneity. Finally, we investigate the joint effect of the two modes and find the existence of a substitute relationship. However, the relationship changes to complementary in specific areas. The findings of this paper provide important implications for the development of the regional tourism economy and the spatial layout of the transport infrastructure.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 18 Jul 2022 16:06:53 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1996204</guid></item><item><title>Investigating the Relationship Between Access to Intercity Bus Transportation and Equity</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1943653</link><description><![CDATA[Intercity bus transportation provides essential public transit service, mainly to long-distance passengers and residents of rural areas. Although the intercity bus system can be beneficial to increase equity by providing such services to low-income people from remote rural areas, it suffers from a problem. The problem is that the socio-demographic characteristics of those disadvantaged individuals are still not crystal clear. This study aims to examine the relationship between access to intercity bus transportation and the socio-demographic characteristics of the region. This study addresses these problems through data integration and multiple regression analysis using a combination of socio-demographic variables across the U.S. The results showed that changes in the percentages of households with zero vehicles and households with an income of less than $50,000 are significantly associated with changes in the access to intercity bus transportation, and different levels of income affect access to intercity bus transportation. Among the significant variables in the model, the number of intercity bus stops can be controlled by policymakers to optimize access to intercity bus transportation. The findings demonstrate the importance of public transit for low-income households and imply that increasing bus access could help shift the spatial distribution of poverty and create more equal and inclusive communities.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2022 15:35:02 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1943653</guid></item><item><title>Interview-Based Analysis of Impacts of COVID-19 on Interurban Business Trips in Japan</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1927432</link><description><![CDATA[This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on interurban business trips (IBTs). A total of 42 individuals employed in 42 private firms or public organizations covering 16 industries in Japan were interviewed from March 19 to June 16, 2021. In addition to their business activities, interviewees were requested to provide information on pre-pandemic IBT practices, changes in employee IBT organizational regulations caused by the pandemic, and their IBT preferences for the post-pandemic period. The results revealed that many firms significantly reduced IBTs in Japan during the pandemic. They also showed that small- and medium-scale organizations reduced the frequency of IBTs more than large-scale organizations, while tourism businesses and medical/welfare services organizations reduced the frequency of IBTs more than other industries. Many organizations preferred to reduce the frequency of IBTs in the post-pandemic period compared with the pre-pandemic period by using video conferences. As business travel accounts for 45% of railway users and 32% of air transportation users in Japan, the expected decline in IBTs could negatively affect ridership during the post-pandemic period.]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 18 Mar 2022 08:39:17 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1927432</guid></item><item><title>The Impact of Shared Corridors on Intercity Passenger Rail Reliability in Canada</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1759878</link><description><![CDATA[This paper investigates passenger rail reliability in Canada, where long-distance and intercity passenger rail service operated by VIA Rail Canada runs almost exclusively on track that they do not own. As pressure for greener long-distance travel options mount, VIA is facing reliability challenges attributed primarily to the Canadian operating model and has pushed for separate rights of way for passenger rail service to accommodate growing demand and higher expectations for reliability. To investigate the effects of mixed-traffic operations versus dedicated right of way operations in a Canadian context, this paper performs a comparative reliability analysis of two corridors - one that is owned entirely by VIA Rail, and one that is not. Real-time and scheduled arrival data published by VIA rail and collected over the course of a year and a half is used to develop an understanding of delay propagation on the line and to learn about the effects of reliability bottlenecks on the corridors. Finally, a mathematical model of stochastic movement of trains on a route is used to examine potential benefits of targeted reliability improvements and to provide direction for rail operators on where to focus improvements.]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2021 11:00:48 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1759878</guid></item><item><title>Bilevel Optimization of Intercity Railway Alignment</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1759670</link><description><![CDATA[Intercity railway transit is the primary way to transfer passengers and freight over long distances on land. The design of an intercity railway alignment is usually challenging and complex because of great topographic variations and intersections with many existing geographic objects. This paper presents a bilevel optimization model for intercity railway alignment (BRAO) following the horizontal-vertical alignment design philosophy. The upper level is the horizontal alignment optimization, while the nested lower level is the vertical alignment optimization. A multistage augmented differential evolution algorithm is adopted for the solution at both levels. BRAO could generate corridor alignment, initial alignment, and optimal alignment through different allocations of the number and boundaries of decision variables. A real-world case study of railway design is conducted to verify the effectiveness of the BRAO model based on a geographic information system.]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2021 10:57:39 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1759670</guid></item><item><title>Effects of Distance and Reliability on Value of Time in Intercity Freight Transportation: An Adaptive Experiment in China</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1759464</link><description><![CDATA[Road–rail container intermodal transportation is considered a solution to reduce the share of truck transportation in China. A modal shift from truck to intermodal alternatives requires a better understanding of freight mode choice behavior and improved estimations of the value of service attributes. This paper focuses on the effects of distance and reliability on the value of time (VOT). An adaptive experiment is conducted on potential customers of intermodal transportation in the Yangtze River Delta area, China. Multinomial logit (binary logit) and mixed logit models are estimated for eight specifications. The results show that shipper characteristics, commodity characteristics, and shipment characteristics significantly influence the mode choice behavior. Specifications with an interaction term between the logarithm of distance and transportation time perform better. The VOT of short-distance transportation is higher than that of long-distance transportation. The rate of VOT reduction decreases with increasing distance. In addition, incorporating the reliability variable in model specifications leads to a more homogeneous random parameter distribution of time and a lower VOT. This study helps intermodal operators to optimize product and design pricing strategies. Moreover, the proposed measures help to promote the modal shift from truck to road–rail container intermodal transportation.]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2021 10:57:32 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1759464</guid></item><item><title>Route Optimization for Multimodal Transportation of Hazardous Material Under the Traffic Restriction Constraint</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1759387</link><description><![CDATA[This paper aims to optimize the service mode and routing of multimodal hazardous material transportation problem based on a bi-objective approach, under the constraints of traffic restrictions in inter city. Several practical considerations are considered in this research, including the transportation network with a variety service modes, the combination of scheduled-based rail transportation and time-flexible road transportation and alternative path.  Furthermore, the time-dependent transportation costs and risks associated with hazardous material accidents are investigated here. This paper proposes a bi-objective optimization model with constraint of traffic restrictions in inter-city, alternative paths and train running plan. The max-min ant system (MMAS) algorithm is then used to solve the problem. A numerical example and a real case study is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The results show that traffic restrictions have an adverse impact on the carrier and alternative paths are able to help the carriers decide better routes strategy.]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2021 10:57:30 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1759387</guid></item><item><title>Reasons for Commuter Rail Electrification: Early 20th Century and Since 2000</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1592085</link><description><![CDATA[Commuter rail electrification is a complex, capital-intensive matter requiring careful study. Between 1905 and 1931, North American railroads inaugurated electrifications for commuter trains that survive today in New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; and Montréal, Québec, Canada, as well as for intercity passenger trains between New Haven, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. A renaissance in electrification is taking hold once more. Since 2000, three new-start electrifications have been placed in service: one for intercity passenger trains (between Boston, Massachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut), and two others for commuter rail (in Mexico City, Mexico, and Denver, Colorado). Two more are proceeding forward (in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and San Francisco, California). Despite the great changes caused throughout the railroad industry by the mid-20th century switch from steam to diesel, there is little change in the reasons for commuter railroad electrification in the two eras. Although the justification threshold is higher today than in the early 20th century, it has lowered somewhat as various considerations again converge in favor of electric traction. This is important, because electrification both requires and reinforces heavy ridership, and today’s resurgence of electrification is happening amid a sustained upswing in commuter rail ridership.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2019 11:15:03 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1592085</guid></item></channel></rss>