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Rail freight transport is a key economic activity; many businesses and people rely on it. It should be available when needed and efficient in use. There are however factors that may reduce the availability and quality of a rail freight service offering. A distinction can be made between what may be called systemic factors, like congestion, accidents and technical failures, and external factors like weather conditions and natural disasters. Rail infrastructure managers and users of rail services have learned from experience to anticipate or adapt to systemic factors. They are, to some extent, also able to cope with certain weather conditions. A rather different situation occurs when the weather becomes more extreme and less predictable. Water management systems are usually not developed for excess amounts of rain and hence will fail. Terrestrial water can turn into a devastating flood that may (temporarily) incapacitate railway infrastructure. With this (partially) out of service, freight trains have to be rerouted. This may lead to severe delays, additional costs and externalities, in particular more emissions. This paper deals with the question: What are options for governments to make rail freight transport more resilient to disruptions triggered by climate change, while limiting the externalities caused by rerouting? The paper is an extension of earlier research on this topic. Methods used in the research were a case study, the data of which were fed into a simulation model, which was used to estimate route length, fuel consumption and emissions. The main outcome of the study is that there are interesting options to make rail freight transport networks more resilient. In order to reap their benefits, interoperability should be improved considerably., Transport and Planning

Road transport offers important logistic benefits at a reasonable cost for producers and consumers, hence its large market share. But, its use of diesel or gas generates large volumes of Co2, nox and pm10 (among others). Higher emission standards and demand for greener transport call for alternatives. literature analysis, a simulated Dutch-german road trip and a partial financial analysis are used to compare different engine-fuel combinations. Electricity from green sources removes these emissions. To stimulate full electric trucks (FET) several issues need to be addressed. First is creation of a large charging network. The netherlands is much further with this than germany. Affordability is another one. operating and investment costs should at least equal those of non-FET to have comparable total cost of ownership (TCo) over the lifetime of a truck. with FET, investment costs are now much higher, which should be compensated by lower operating costs. The actual operating costs depend on many factors, but fuel costs and trip time are likely to rise if en-route recharging is needed. A more in-depth financial analysis is needed for more exact conclusions. Another issue is technical. practice tests are needed to enhance the results of the simulation study. Hybrid diesel-electric and FET are already used in urban and regional transport. Regulation should also become tighter. Zero emission should become the norm. if these issues are successfully death with, then electric drive will become the mainstream technology. Technically, 2025 or 2030 seem feasible for large-scale production, which also lowers investment costs. with more electricity needed for transport, the supply of green electricity should grow strongly. Finally, the micro simulation is a modest example of the potential of the simulation model. modeling of other corridors is underway, using one truck or a fleet of FET., Transport and Planning

Road transport offers important logistic benefits at a reasonable cost for producers and consumers, hence its large market share. But, its use of diesel or gas generates large volumes of Co2, nox and pm10 (among others). Higher emission standards and demand for greener transport call for alternatives. literature analysis, a simulated Dutch-german road trip and a partial financial analysis are used to compare different engine-fuel combinations. Electricity from green sources removes these emissions. To stimulate full electric trucks (FET) several issues need to be addressed. First is creation of a large charging network. The netherlands is much further with this than germany. Affordability is another one. operating and investment costs should at least equal those of non-FET to have comparable total cost of ownership (TCo) over the lifetime of a truck. with FET, investment costs are now much higher, which should be compensated by lower operating costs. The actual operating costs depend on many factors, but fuel costs and trip time are likely to rise if en-route recharging is needed. A more in-depth financial analysis is needed for more exact conclusions. Another issue is technical. practice tests are needed to enhance the results of the simulation study. Hybrid diesel-electric and FET are already used in urban and regional transport. Regulation should also become tighter. Zero emission should become the norm. if these issues are successfully death with, then electric drive will become the mainstream technology. Technically, 2025 or 2030 seem feasible for large-scale production, which also lowers investment costs. with more electricity needed for transport, the supply of green electricity should grow strongly. Finally, the micro simulation is a modest example of the potential of the simulation model. modeling of other corridors is underway, using one truck or a fleet of FET., Transport and Planning

Transport vehicles contribute to the on going rise in emissions of CO2 worldwide and emit large amounts of NOx and PM10. The growing demand for container transport is only sustainable if transport becomes ‘greener’. There are innovations, which unite economic and environmental interests. One example it the ongoing increase in ship size, which reduces the cost of shipping by reducing fuel consumption and emissions per container. Another example is the use of alternative fuel (blend)s in ship engines. The central theme in this paper is to better understand the impact of replacing standard fuels in engines of large(r) container ships by alternative fuels (biodiesel, LNG/CNG) on CO2 NOx and PM10 emissions. This leads to the following questions: Can alternative fuels help to significantly reduce CO2, NOx and PM10 emissions in port areas? Does their use allow compensation of the growth in emissions due to the growth in container shipping? It is shown for a typical seaport container terminal that cleaner fuels can contribute to lowering these emissions, even if the volume of containers handled by this terminal triples. The use of what seem at first glance cleaner fuels may however open a box of Pandora as a widespread use of organic biofuel may create serious other environmental problems, additional pressure on local food supply and social stability in already vulnerable areas of the world. More use of natural gas also raises serious environmental concerns., Transport & Planning, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Transport & Planning, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Transport vehicles contribute to the on going rise in emissions of CO2 worldwide and emit large amounts of NOx and PM10. The growing demand for container transport is only sustainable if transport becomes ‘greener’. There are innovations, which unite economic and environmental interests. One example it the ongoing increase in ship size, which reduces the cost of shipping by reducing fuel consumption and emissions per container. Another example is the use of alternative fuel (blend)s in ship engines. The central theme in this paper is to better understand the impact of replacing standard fuels in engines of large(r) container ships by alternative fuels (biodiesel, LNG/CNG) on CO2 NOx and PM10 emissions. This leads to the following questions: Can alternative fuels help to significantly reduce CO2, NOx and PM10 emissions in port areas? Does their use allow compensation of the growth in emissions due to the growth in container shipping? It is shown for a typical seaport container terminal that cleaner fuels can contribute to lowering these emissions, even if the volume of containers handled by this terminal triples. The use of what seem at first glance cleaner fuels may however open a box of Pandora as a widespread use of organic biofuel may create serious other environmental problems, additional pressure on local food supply and social stability in already vulnerable areas of the world. More use of natural gas also raises serious environmental concerns., Transport & Planning, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Transport & Planning, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Ruim een eeuw na de uitvinding van de automotor zien we nu de derde poging om elektrische aandrijving voor (personen)auto’s aan de man of vrouw te brengen. Het gaat inmiddels om een groeiend aantal automodellen en varianten in kleine series. De impact van een beperkt aantal van deze auto’s op de maatschappij en het milieu is daarmee nog beperkt. Die impact zal veel groter worden op het moment dat er veel meer elektrische auto’s rondrijden. Of het zover komt is zeer onzeker, er zijn namelijk verschillende alternatieven (denkbaar): verdere ontwikkeling van conventionele motoren, toepassing van biobrandstoffen of waterstof en ontwikkeling van geïntegreerde openbaar vervoersystemen. Bij elektrische auto’s gaat het zowel om private investeringen door consumenten en producenten als om grote overheidsinvesteringen. Dit laatste geldt zeker als de door de Rijksoverheid beoogde koppeling van de introductie van elektrische auto’s aan de herstructurering van de elektriciteitsvoorziening werkelijkheid zou worden. De Nederlandse overheid stimuleert elektrisch autorijden ook vanwege de beoogde vermindering van de uitstoot van CO2 en (lokale) luchtvervuiling. Dit beleid is zinvol, mits dit effect niet tegen excessief hoge kosten gerealiseerd wordt en er geen effectievere alternatieven zijn of binnen afzienbare termijn beschikbaar komen waarmee de gekozen beleidsdoelen ook behaald zouden kunnen worden. De effectiviteit van overheidsmaatregelen op basis van vrijwilligheid berust op individuele acceptatie en bereidheid tot gedragsaanpassing. Bij de elektraproductie zien we een groeiend aantal lokale initiatieven, waarbij het milieu en de portemonnee baat hebben. Dit momentum kan gebruikt worden om het accent te leggen op klein- in plaats van grootschalige oplossingen. Als iedereen fors energie zou gaan besparen en zelf elektra produceert en opslaat, wat technisch steeds eenvoudiger en goedkoper zal worden, dan hebben kleine en middelgrote verbruikers geen externe elektraleveranciers m, Transport & Planning, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Rail intermodal services are an alternative to all-road services if the average transport time offered by these services is at least comparable. One of the determinants of transport time is how well actors in the transport chain cooperate. In this paper it is shown that substantial improvements in rail transport time are possible if these actors improve their cooperation substantially. This goes along with relatively moderate investments (a few million Euros per case). Such investments may then be regarded as a cost-effective alternative for (multi-billion) investments in rail infrastructure. This is particularly relevant in an era where budgets for rail infrastructure are either limited or create an additional burden for already debt-ridden countries., Transport & Planning, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Rail intermodal services are an alternative to all-road services if the average transport time offered by these services is at least comparable. One of the determinants of transport time is how well actors in the transport chain cooperate. In this paper it is shown that substantial improvements in rail transport time are possible if these actors improve their cooperation substantially. This goes along with relatively moderate investments (a few million Euros per case). Such investments may then be regarded as a cost-effective alternative for (multi-billion) investments in rail infrastructure. This is particularly relevant in an era where budgets for rail infrastructure are either limited or create an additional burden for already debt-ridden countries., Transport & Planning, Civil Engineering and Geosciences