Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
socially and environmentally preferable and, second, as an economically feasible
alternative.
On long-distance routes (over 800km), APT dominates the transport market as
an exclusive high-speed mode; but there is opportunity for complementarity in
terms of providing 'feeding' traffic for long-distance flights by HSR. In Europe, the
latter are long continental and intercontinental flights that could be fed by HSR
short-distance services instead of equivalent short-haul air services (flights). This kind
of multimodal interrelationship requires multimodal integration. This should include
through-ticketing, competitive prices compared to the prices of unimodal services,
integration and balance of timetables at intermodal points and common baggage pro-
cessing. In order to determine the distance thresholds for substitution and integra-
tion of complementary services, both alternatives need to be assessed with respect to
their ability to satisfy specified needs. These may be the needs of users, such as pas-
sengers' need for an adequate service, the need of transport operators for a profitable
business, or the public need for a reduction of the overall environmental impact of
the transport system. With respect to the assessment and comparison of particular
effects, a market and spatial boundary needs to be defined by which to determine
the relative merits of particular high-speed systems in order to guarantee fulfilment
of both local and global, individual and collective objectives.
H
IGH
-
SPEED
TRANSPORT
SYSTEMS
It can be said that the intention to increase transport speed has been a widespread
obsession of modern times. Since most people have generally had a fixed time and
money budget for travel, they have generally intended to buy the maximal distance
with it. Moreover, in line with increases in personal income, they have tended to buy
faster transport services, and thus travel further. Therefore, it could be considered
that transport speed has been increasing as a consequence of a progressively expand-
ing per-capita income and increased travel opportunities in terms of scale and scope
(Ausubel and Marchetti, 1996). Travelling at high speed has provided overall bene-
fits for users (passengers) by allowing them faster and deeper market penetration,
complete substitution of conventional transport modes, and improved spending of
time and money budgets. At present, three transport systems - air passenger trans-
port (APT), high-speed rail (HSR) and trans-rapid MAGLEV (TRM) - can be con-
sidered as high-speed systems.
Air passenger transport (APT)
APT emerged as the earliest high-speed travel option during the 1950s. Over time,
it has been permanently modernized through aircraft capabilities, airline strategy
and government regulation (Boeing, 1998). The development of aircraft capabilities
such as speed, payload and take-off weight has been of the greatest importance, as
these have most affected the other two sub-processes, and vice versa. Increases in both
speed and payload have contributed to enormous increases in aircraft productivity
of more than 100 times during the last 40 years (Horonjeff and McKelvey, 1994).
