Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Note:
the slowest passenger train speed is 47 km/h (1829) and the slowest passenger aircraft speed is
238 km/h (1934).
Figure 8.1
Evolution of train and aircraft speed
In particular, the development of speed has been relatively fast, as is illustrated in
Figure 8.1 by relating the speed of various commercial aircraft to the speed of the
slowest one, the DC3 (238 km/h). The dotted line shows a significant and relatively
fast (exponential) technological progress over time, which has for the time being
been completed by launching supersonic aircraft Concorde in 1974 (Boeing, 1998;
Horonjeff and McKelvey, 1994). In addition, 'airline strategy' and 'governmental
regulation' have increased system efficiency and safety, together with a permanent
and stable long-term traffic growth in terms of scale and scope. In particular, the air-
craft manufacturers and airlines have been among the leaders of this progress. They
have made a continuous effort to develop and deploy new aircraft with increased effi-
ciency in terms of fuel consumption, noise emissions and emissions of gaseous pol-
lutants. In addition to spatial expansion, the airports have intended to use modern
equipment and procedures to serve growing demand more efficiently and safely. Air
traffic control has always intended to provide safe, expeditious and efficient aircraft
movements between airports by using innovative and new technologies and opera-
tional procedures. Governmental institutions have created legislation to liberalize and
privatize the air transport industry and particular markets. Consequently, in Europe,
the sector has grown at an average annual rate of 5 per cent (ATAG, 1996a).
High-speed rail
(HSR)
HSR was launched at the beginning of the 1980s. Generally, the development of rail-
way speed has been much slower than that of air transport, and has spread over a
period longer than a century and a half. During that period, train speed has increased
more than ten times, from about 50-500km/h (see Figure 8.1). Probably the most
