摘要: |
This research was motivated by the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, which instructs the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to seek partnerships between freight and passenger railroads with a view to developing new passenger rail services that would support a growing economy and help relieve highway congestion. The objective of the research was to develop a Web-based tool to enable states and passenger rail operators to perform preliminary feasibility screening of proposed shared-use passenger and freight rail corridor projects. The goal of the tool was to assist in preliminary analysis as defined in FRAs Rail Corridor Transportation Plans: A Guidance Manual (1). The research reviewed rail corridor analysis methodologies for approaches that were suitable for a preliminary analysis tool. The research examined data requirements and analyzed the potential gaps in data availability and strategies for bridging them. Following the gap analysis, the researchers prepared five candidate case studies, from which three were selected by the project panel. The team developed a tool design and implemented it along with a users manual. The three case studies were conducted using the tool. |