THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC COSTS OF INSTALLATION, REFURBISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF URBAN RAIL SYSTEMS: AN EUROPEAN EXAMPLE

摘要

During the past many European cities introduced urban rail systems (tram, light rail, metro)which are often quite successful. Because these systems run through urban areas and city centres,quality plays a very important role in installation of new systems and maintenance andrenewal/refurbishment of older systems. Within the framework of the European project Urban Track(2006 – 2010), different rail technologies have been developed for renewal, maintenance andrefurbishment of urban rail systems. The innovative aspects vary from very fast replacement of tracks,prefab technologies and inspection methods of tracks. Another goal of the innovative tracktechnologies is the realization of a reduction of costs of 25% combined with a better performance fornoise and vibrations.As part of the economic assessment of newly developed rail technologies, we have developeda socio-economic assessment methodology that can be used in combination with a life cycle cost tool.The methodology assesses the quantitative and qualitative impact of installation or maintenanceactivities of rail technologies on neighbouring residents and business, road traffic and public transportand the environmental effects. The methodology has been tested on several validation sites and showsthe importance of taking socio-economic costs into consideration in the decision making process. Someshort term advantages such as fast installation might result in long term disadvantages such as morenoise and vibrations or high environmental costs.