Document Type
Theses, Ph.D
Rights
Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence
Abstract
The threat of greenhouse gases and the resulting climate change have been causing concern at international levels. This has led towards new sustainable policies towards reducing the anthropogenic effects on the environment and the population through promoting sustainable solutions for the freight industry. The research was prompted by the growing concerns that were no mode-choice tool to select as an alternative to road freight transport. There were growing concerns that a large percentage of transport related negativities, related various costs and pollution costs, losses arising from traffic accidents, delay costs from congestion and abatement costs due to climate impacts of transport, etc., were not being borne by the user. Economists have defined them as external costs. Internalising these external costs has been regarded as an efficient way to share the transport related costs. The aim of this research was to construct a freight mode choice model, based on total transport costs, as a mode choice substitution tool. This model would allow the feasibility of choosing alternative intermodal system to a primarily ‘road system’. The thesis postulates a novel model in computing total freight transport costs incurred during the total transit of goods along three North European transport corridors. The model evaluated the total costs summing the internal, external and time costs for varied mode choices from unimodal and the second level of intermodal transport systems. The research outcomes have shown the influences of total costs on the shipper and the preferred mode choices from the available mode/route options with sustainable transport solutions. The impacts of such alternatives were evaluated in this research. This will allow the embedding of intermodal infrastructures as sustainable and alternative mode choices for the freight industry.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21427/D7XC8D
Recommended Citation
Maitra, R. (2016) An investigation to evaluate the feasibility of an intermodal freight transport system. Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Award of Doctor of Philosophy, Technological University Dublin, 2016. doi:10.21427/D7XC8D
Publication Details
Technological University Dublin, 2016.