Peter Morihladko’s research while affiliated with University of Žilina and other places

Nowadays, it is essential to contribute to sustainable transport to the maximum extent possible. Therefore, a significant emphasis is placed on environmentally friendly modes of transport, especially railway transport. For this reason, it is very important to ensure sufficient capacity of the railway infrastructure and high-quality railway transport operations. Railway transport control, operation, and management bring several specifications and unique features. One of the most important things is to correctly determine the capacity and throughput of the railway infrastructure because it must be clear how many trains can be operated on a concrete railway line for a certain time. Therefore, the issue of railway infrastructure capacity is a relatively broad and complex topic. Currently, there are several methods and ways to determine it. However, for scientific progress and research in this field, it is necessary to look for new scientific and professional solutions to the mentioned issue with effective implementation into practice. The mentioned contribution deals with new modern progressive methods of determining the capacity of the railway line using simulations and software applications. The main objective is to establish a methodology, specifically a heuristic procedure, in which specific partial steps of a new method of determining the capacity of railway infrastructure are defined. Subsequently, this new way of determining it is directly applied and explained on the specific railway line Bratislava–Komárno, which is located in southwestern Slovakia. The first part of the paper contains a theoretical framework and a brief explanation of the issue, including current used methods, as well as current scientific and professional manuscripts and papers that deal with this topic. Subsequently, the mentioned railway line is described, including the current operational problems arising on it due to insufficient current capacity. As part of the results, the proposal part is presented, including a universal heuristic procedure, which includes partial steps of the new methodology with application to the mentioned railway line. The discussions present its theoretical and practical benefits and topics for the further development of this issue. However, the most significant benefit will be the more effective identification of bottlenecks in railway operations, which will improve its smoothness and will have a significant impact on sustainable development and its aspects in the field of transport.

The transportation of shipments by rail is usually more expensive than other modes of transport. The costs are dependent on different factors, like the length of the train route, energy consumption based on traction, or the number of crew members in the train. The total price for using the railway infrastructure is also calculated, as is the total weight of the railway vehicle—the weight of the shipment and the weight of the wagon. The different types of wagons have different properties. For the operators, it is an ideal situation to have good values of the technical coefficient of tare. In the case of good values, the operator has effectively used their vehicle park. Railway transport should be affordable for customers. By operating non-efficient wagons, transport is more expensive and has low efficiency. By reducing the dead weight of the wagon, it is possible to reduce the cost rate. In synergy with this, more efficient and eco-friendly transportation can be achieved by reducing energy consumption. By reducing energy consumption, it is possible to get closer to the goal of the European Union, which is to reduce greenhouse gases from transport.

Rail transport is considered an environmentally friendly mode of transport. However, this statement is valid if the transport takes place on electrified lines. In 2021, 56% of the total railway network in European countries was electrified. This share has been gradually increasing in recent years. However, the level of electrification of the railway network varies significantly between countries. Switzerland is the only country with a fully electrified rail network, while Kosovo has the only railway network where no tracks are electrified. Eight countries have a rail network in which 70% or more of the tracks are electrified. The first three places are Switzerland (100%), Luxembourg (97%), and Belgium (88%). In seven countries, the level of electrification is below a third of the total railway network (Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Kosovo, Lithuania, Latvia, and Greece). IRG Rail also started collecting data on the intensity of electrified and non-electrified railway lines use. The first results show that the intensity of electrified network use is higher in all monitored countries. In several countries, the intensity of electrified railway lines use is several times higher compared to non-electrified lines (IRG-Rail. Eleventh Annual Market Monitoring Report). The paper deals with a comparative analysis of traffic performance on electrified and non-electrified railway lines in EU countries for passenger and freight transport. Our research was focused on the share of power of dependent and independent traction, and especially on the share of power of independent traction on electrified lines. We dealt not only with the statistical analysis of performance but primarily with the social costs (internal and external costs) of independent traction in comparison with dependent traction.

The segment of transport of single wagon consignments is specific in comparison with the transport of complete trains in terms of significantly higher technological complexity, which increases the capacity requirements for means of transport, railway infrastructure, consumption of traction energy, employees involved in this transport, and ultimately the cost of transport. In many EU countries, the transport of single wagon loads is supported by the State on the basis of the Community Guidelines on State aid to railway undertakings. This aid may be granted as aid for the use of infrastructure or aid to reduce ancillary costs. This aid is allowed by the EU with a view to achieving sustainable freight transport if it is demonstrated by a study that the transport of single wagon loads has lower ancillary costs than alternative modes of transport. In the long term, there is a need to increase efficiency in this transport segment. One option is to change the technology of the operator. This paper uses a case study to show how a change in technology can reduce the carrier’s cost of transporting single carload shipments and thus increase the overall economic efficiency of this transportation segment.