Research Collection Doctoral Thesis Estimations of the Potential and the Impact of Rail Freight in Urban Areas Author(s): Fumasoli, Tobias Publication Date: 2018-03 Permanent Link: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000256137 Rights / License: In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted This page was generated automatically upon download from the ETH Zurich Research Collection. For more information please consult the Terms of use. ETH Library DISS. ETH NO. 24609 ESTIMATIONS OF THE POTENTIAL AND THE IMPACT OF RAIL FREIGHT IN URBAN AREAS A thesis submitted to attain the degree of DOCTOR OF SCIENCES of ETH ZURICH (Dr. sc. ETH Zurich) presented by TOBIAS MASSIMO FUMASOLI MSc ETH SD&IS born on 5 July 1983 citizen of Zürich ZH, Lugano TI and Buchs ZH accepted on the recommendation of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Alois Weidmann, examiner Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Stölzle, co-examiner Prof. Dr. Bernd Scholl, co-examiner Martin Ruesch, co-examiner 2018 Contents Abstract 11 Zusammenfassung 13 Acknowledgement 15 Abbreviations 17 1 Introduction 19 1.1 Rationale ................................. 19 1.2 Goal .................................... 19 1.3 Structure .................................. 20 1.4 Actors’ perspectives ............................ 21 2 Freight transport in urban areas 23 2.1 Introduction ................................ 23 2.2 Definitions ................................. 23 2.2.1 Urban areas ............................ 23 2.2.2 Urban freight ........................... 24 2.2.3 Freight railways in urban areas .................. 25 2.3 Urban freight transport .......................... 26 2.3.1 Introduction ............................ 26 2.3.2 Transport industry structure ................... 26 2.3.3 Commodity structure of urban freight .............. 27 2.3.4 Urban freight flows ........................ 31 2.3.5 Urban transport chains ...................... 32 2.3.6 Alternative modes in urban freight ................ 33 2.3.7 Shifting freight to rail ...................... 34 2.4 Rail freight in urban transport strategies ................. 35 2.4.1 Introduction ............................ 36 2.4.2 Selection of rail freight strategies ................ 36 2.4.3 Classifications of rail freight strategies .............. 37 2.4.4 Results .............................. 39 2.5 Conclusion ................................ 41 3 Research hypotheses 43 3.1 Introduction ................................ 43 3.2 Freight railway technology and productivity ............... 43 3.3 Rail facilities for freight transhipment .................. 44 Contents 3.4 System design of rail freight in urban areas ............... 45 3.5 Framework requirements of rail freight in urban areas .......... 45 3.5.1 Economic sustainability ..................... 45 3.5.2 Environmental sustainability ................... 46 3.5.3 Land use policy .......................... 46 4 Research design 47 4.1 Introduction ................................ 47 4.2 WP2: Freight railway technology and productivity ........... 47 4.3 WP3: Rail facilities for freight transhipment ............... 47 4.4 WP4: System design of rail freight in urban areas ............ 48 4.5 WP5: Framework requirements of rail freight in urban areas ...... 48 4.5.1 Freight transport scenarios .................... 48 4.5.2 WP5.1: Economic sustainability ................. 48 4.5.3 WP5.2: Environmental sustainability .............. 49 4.5.4 WP5.3: Land use policy ..................... 49 5 Freight railway technology and productivity 51 5.1 Introduction ................................ 51 5.2 Urban railway networks and freight operations .............. 52 5.3 Definitions ................................. 53 5.3.1 Rail capacity and capacity consumption ............. 53 5.3.2 Freight capacity .......................... 54 5.4 Approach ................................. 54 5.4.1 Model structure .......................... 54 5.4.2 Model parameters ......................... 55 5.4.3 Theoretical maximum capacity .................. 57 5.4.4 Infrastructure parameters ..................... 57 5.4.5 Operational setting ........................ 57 5.5 Results ................................... 58 5.6 Conclusion ................................ 60 6 Rail facilities for freight transhipment 63 6.1 Introduction ................................ 63 6.2 Definitions ................................. 63 6.2.1 Actors in freight transhipment .................. 63 6.2.2 Freight transhipment and terminals ............... 64 6.3 Private freight terminal planning processes ................ 65 6.4 Public sector planning for rail freight terminals ............. 72 6.5 Challenges in the planning of urban rail freight facilities ......... 75 6.6 Conclusion ................................ 77 7 System design of rail freight in urban areas 79 7.1 Introduction ................................ 79 7.2 Freight terminal performance ....................... 80 7.2.1 The importance of terminal performance ............ 80 7.2.2 Performance indicators ...................... 80 7.2.3 Performance references ...................... 81 7.3 Terminal area ............................... 83 4 Contents 7.3.1 Terminal layout .......................... 83 7.3.2 Terminal yard ........................... 83 7.3.3 Storage area ............................ 84 7.3.4 Railway access .......................... 85 7.3.5 Road access ............................ 86 7.3.6 Terminal module approach .................... 87 7.4 Freight handling .............................. 88 7.4.1 Transhipment devices ....................... 88 7.4.2 Handling rates of transhipment devices ............. 91 7.5 Transhipment ............................... 94 7.5.1 Allocation of handling resources ................. 94 7.5.2 Transhipment capacity ...................... 96 7.6 Terminal throughput ........................... 98 7.6.1 Train operations ......................... 98 7.6.2 Terminal throughput per unit area ................ 99 7.7 Generation of lorry and train trips .................... 99 7.8 Conclusion ................................104 8 Framework requirements of rail freight in urban areas 105 8.1 Introduction ................................105 8.2 Freight transport scenarios ........................105 8.3 Economic sustainability ..........................111 8.3.1 Introduction ............................111 8.3.2 Cost structure of freight transport ................111 8.3.3 Cost calculation ..........................113 8.3.4 Results ..............................116 8.3.5 Discussion ............................116 8.4 Environmental sustainability .......................118 8.4.1 Introduction ............................118 8.4.2 Energy consumption and emission calculation ..........119 8.4.3 Results ..............................120 8.4.4 Discussion ............................121 8.5 Land use policy ..............................123 8.5.1 Introduction ............................123 8.5.2 Freight in land use planning ...................123 8.5.3 Planning priorities in Switzerland ................124 8.5.4 Land use allocation process ...................125 8.5.5 Discussion ............................126 8.6 Excursus: Digitalization and automated vehicles .............127 8.6.1 Introduction ............................127 8.6.2 Automated driving in road transport ...............127 8.6.3 Automation of railways ......................129 8.6.4 Automated freight handling ...................129 8.6.5 Shifting comparative advantages .................130 8.7 Conclusion ................................130 5 Contents 9 Case study 133 9.1 Introduction ................................133 9.2 Freight flows in Zurich ..........................134 9.3 Railways in the Zurich area ........................136 9.4 Safeguarding of terminal locations ....................136 9.5 Terminal performance ...........................137 9.5.1 Terminal layouts .........................137 9.5.2 Potential throughput .......................138 9.5.3 Lorry and train trips .......................139 9.6 Framework conditions ..........................140 9.6.1 Transport characteristics .....................140 9.6.2 Economic impact .........................141 9.6.3 Environmental impact ......................141 9.6.4 Planning .............................141 9.7 Conclusion ................................143 10 Synthesis 145 10.1 Introduction ................................145 10.2 Key results ................................145 10.3 Methodological considerations ......................148 10.4 Research perspectives ...........................149 A Appendix WP1 161 B Appendix WP3 165 C Appendix WP4 167 D Appendix WP5 179 D.1 Effect of the freight terminal location ...................179 D.2 Comparison of road and rail distances ..................181 D.3 Vehicle operating systems and cycles ...................182 D.4 HBEFA fuel consumption data ......................183 D.5 GHG emissions ..............................185 E Appendix case study 187 6 List of Figures 1.1 Structure of work packages ........................ 20 1.2 Actors in freight transport and transport chain organisation ....... 21 2.1 Comparison of morphological and functional definitions of urban areas 24 2.2 Definition of urban freight transport ................... 25 2.3 Examples of road–rail terminals ..................... 26 2.4 Composition of good type and cargo type in urban freight ........ 30 2.5 Freight flows by OD-pair ......................... 31 2.6 Scope of the project ............................ 32 2.7 Rail freight locations and population