Closed Form Models to Assess Railroad Technology Investments
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Date
2020
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Abstract
Class I railroads in North America collectively invested $11.2 billion to comply with a federal mandate to deploy positive train control. This amount dwarfs the potential savings from accidents the technology could prevent. Therefore, railroads must seek additional benefits. This research contributes simple closed-form models to inform strategies that can leverage the technology deployment by estimating the annual additional net benefits, internal rate of return, and benefit-cost ratio needed for a desired payback period.
Description
Raj Bridgelall is the program director for the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) Center for Surface Mobility Applications & Real-time Simulation environments (SMARTSeSM).
Keywords
Benefit-cost analysis., Internal rate of return., Non-destructive evaluation., Payback period., Positive train control., Railroad safety.
Citation
Bridgelall, Raj and Denver Tolliver. "Closed Form Models to Assess Railroad Technology Investments." Transportation Planning and Technology, DOI:10.1080/03081060.2020.1805541, 43(7), August 11, 2020.