Analysis of Delay Causes in Railway Passenger Transportation

Abstract

Keywords delay causes, rail transport schedule investigation IntroductionPassenger service quality consists of several factors. Researchers applied and validated the Satisfaction with Travel Scale (STS) method that measures the service experience in public transportation. The results confirmed that service experience is multidimensional, consisting of a cognitive dimension related to service quality and two affective dimensions related to positive activation, such as enthusiasm or boredom, and positive deactivation, such as relaxation or stress (Olsson et al., 2012). One of the most important of the quality factors influencing experience is punctuality. Time keeping of schedule is important both on operational and passenger side. The punctuality is not a simple parameter, but a rather complex indicator. According to it both the operational quality of the organization and the technical state of development can be assessed.Passengers plan their journey according to the schedule and the most uncertain element of travel chain is the interchange. On operational side, guaranteeing the connections is a huge challenge, especially in case of infrastructure in bad condition. For these purposes delay prediction is a helpful tool. A study (Corman et al., 2013) proposes a compromise solution for minimization of train delays by comparison of timetable options.Level of service can be modelled by quality loops. The study of the optimal service quality shows that public transport reliability and thereby volume of clientele is often lower at equilibrium compared to first-best social optimum (Monchambert and Palma, 2014). One component of the quality loop is planned quality that is presented to the passengers by the service provider. This quality level depends on the budget, the standards expected by passengers and the performance of competitors. The provided (realized) quality may be varying day by day because of the external factors. Causes of the differences are: factors of the operator (e.g. technical breakdowns) or independent factors (e.g. weather conditions, incidents, accidents). The aim of our research has been determined on basis of literature review: study, analysis and comparison of traffic characteristics of railway lines with different infrastructure (Lindfeldt, 2011) and similar surveys in Norway where 1000 departures identified many reasons for delay (Harris et al., 2013).

Multiple Criteria Evaluation and the Inverse Hierarchy Model for Justifying the Choice of Rail Transport Mode

“…One of the most important quality indicators of public transportation is punctuality. Deviations from the schedule decrease the level of service quality [32].…”

Investigating the effect of weather on punctuality of Norwegian railways: a case study of the Nordland Line

“…Xu et al [20] studied the probability and impacts of different disruption sources on Chinese high-speed railways and described that bad weather has an impact on delayed traffic. Nagy and Csiszar [21] analysed delay causes in Hungarian railway passenger transportation and found that extreme cold or hot weather contributes to delays of trains. The study by Jaroszweski et al [22] used delay and timing data from UK road and rail network and explored how the intense storm incident caused the failure of infrastructure, knock-on delays and widespread disruption.…”

Approach Methodology for Comprehensive Assessing the Public Passenger Transport Timetable Performances at a Regional Scale

“…Temporal and spatial accuracy represents one of the most important attributes regarding the quality of public passenger transport. Time deviations from the planned schedule diminish the level of transport service provided, which is examined in research study in detail [22].…”

“…Often, after implementing the new timetable in rail transport, particularly the train schedule diagram, discussions are going on about whether it is better or worse than in the previous period, while assessing is approached solely subjectively [3,4,17].The availability of destinations and the frequency of connections are also important criteria for passengers in relation to public transport [3,13]. The key task of transport services is, therefore, to provide ample travel opportunities accordingly, whilst that of the infrastructure is to create the opportunity to provide a comprehensive service within a given state, specific geographical agglomeration, or area of interest [22][23][24]. The difference in quality standards within regional transport networks is also of significance because it can result in widening economic and social differences between individual areas [24].At present, there is no comprehensive methodology for assessing the quality of a compiled timetable from the transport network aspects as a whole.…”

“…The availability of destinations and the frequency of connections are also important criteria for passengers in relation to public transport [3,13]. The key task of transport services is, therefore, to provide ample travel opportunities accordingly, whilst that of the infrastructure is to create the opportunity to provide a comprehensive service within a given state, specific geographical agglomeration, or area of interest [22][23][24]. The difference in quality standards within regional transport networks is also of significance because it can result in widening economic and social differences between individual areas [24].…”