It is currently necessary to solve several bottlenecks in railway infrastructure. This is important because it is needed to improve railway infrastructure to be faster, safer and of high quality. ...Rail crossings on railway lines are also a significant bottleneck. There are still many rail crossings and a high number of accidents in many countries of the European Union. The issue of rail crossings must be addressed because many rail crossings reduce the flow of road and railway traffic. However, it is about the safety of transportation, as several serious and fatal traffic accidents have happened at rail crossings. Many times, the perspective ratios of the rail crossings are a significant problem and the main cause of traffic accidents. Therefore, it is important to propose a certain methodological procedure for the assessment of the perspective ratios in rail crossings. The main contribution goal is to briefly describe the development of the rail crossings number according to security devices and analyze the factors influencing the rail crossing potential and restrictive elements factors of the rail crossings as a matter of priority. Great emphasis is placed on the perspective ratios as a key safety factor. The heuristic procedure of the perspective ratios determination is presented within the proposals. Subsequently, there are analyzed the perspective ratios at the selected rail crossing with the light protection device and to assess whether these ratios are safe for the given crossing in the event of the light protection device failure. The rail crossing in the Czech Republic has been selected as a representative on railway line no. 196 from České Budějovice to Horní Dvořiště in the empirical part of the research. The rail crossing has been analyzed in terms of its characteristics and parameters and has been assessed as complying with legal regulations.
Neočakávaný vývoj ochorenia COVID-19 sa významným spôsobom podpísal na cestovných návykoch spoločnosti. Už pred pandémiou mali výkony vo verejnej osobnej dopravy klesajúci charakter a vysoký nárast ...bol zaznamenaný v individuálnej automobilovej doprave. Výskyt ochorenia COVID-19 tento negatívny trend významne posilnil a IAD sa stala preferovanou voľbou cestujúcich. Uvedený príspevok sa zaoberá dopadom opatrení zavedených v prvom polroku 2020 na železničnú osobnú dopravu v Slovenskej republike za účelom spomalenia šírenia vírusu počas prvej vlny pandémie COVID-19. Hlavným cieľom príspevku je skúmať a analyzovať prepad prepravných výkonov v jednotlivých mesiacoch prvého polroku 2020 a následne odhadnúť vplyv týchto zmien na sektor osobnej železničnej dopravy. Prepravné výkony sú následne analyzované na troch významných prepravných reláciách v Slovenskej republike, pričom sú porovnávané roky 2018, 2019 a 2020. Všeobecne sa očakáva, že isté obdobie po skončení pandemickej situácie môžu byť kritické pre zabezpečenie dlhodobého a udržateľného rozvoja v rámci železničnej dopravy.
Quality and efficient long-distance transport as a key system of public passenger transport could be the basis for the national and international comprehensive integrated transport system. Especially ...due to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 disease, the demand for long-distance transport has significantly decreased since March 2020 in the Slovak Republic on the busiest long-distance line Bratislava–Žilina–Košice. It is, therefore, necessary to propose various measures in order to increase this demand and bring passenger frequencies to at least the level of values before this period. This paper analyzes the impact of the measures on passenger frequencies in 2020, examining the amount of their fall in individual months of the first half of the year 2020 on the long-distance route Bratislava–Žilina–Košice. Furthermore, the paper deals with the long-term concept of national long-distance passenger rail transport on the mentioned line in the period after the end of the pandemic. It uses scientific methods enabling to rationalize and optimize current train timetables. The benefits of these proposals will be to offer passengers better transport services, with their frequencies expected to increase in the coming years.
A variety of methodologies are being used across Europe for the estimation of railway infrastructure capacity. This paper introduces the basic principles of the methodologies used – analytical ...methodology (e.g. Slovak railways), UIC methodology, and the graphically developed methodology of the Department of Railway Transport, University of Žilina (KŽD). On the basis of these new approaches, the occupation time estimation is researched. This new method is based on a graphic approach that uses operational time intervals as part of occupation time in accordance with the Slovak methodology. The new methodology concerns graphic capacity estimation and is a conceptual framework developed by the authors for easier evaluation of occupation time in train traffic diagrams.
Trh služieb železničnej dopravy v krajinách EÚ bol dlhodobo neprístupný súkromnému sektoru. Dopravné služby boli poskytované národnými dopravcami, čo viedlo k zamedzeniu podieľania sa na spravodlivej ...a nediskriminačnej hospodárskej súťaži pri poskytovaní dopravných služieb železničnej dopravy. Hlavným cieľom objednávateľov dopravných služieb vo verejnom záujme ako aj poskytovateľov dopravných služieb je zaistiť dopravné služby vo verejnom záujme, a v čo najväčšej miere zvýšiť obsadenosť jednotlivých spojov. Čím viac cestujúcich bude na danom spoji cestovať, tým budú väčšie tržby na danom spoji a teda nebude potrebné vyžadovať viac financií z verejných rozpočtov. Preto je potrebné analyzovať celkový vývoj v oblasti prevádzkovania železničnej osobnej dopravy, vrátane vstupu súkromných dopravcov na infraštruktúru Železníc Slovenskej republiky. Na základe poznania súčasného stavu je potrebné prijať opatrenia na dosiahnutie naplnenia požiadaviek Nariadenia (ES) 1370/2007, ktoré koordinuje MDV SR. Príspevok charakterizuje aktuálny stav organizovania verejných súťaží v SR a ich priebeh, a navrhuje postupné kroky verejnej súťaže formou časového harmonogramu. Dôležitým bodom celého procesu organizácie verejnej súťaže je správne nastavenie kompetencií, určenie predmetu verejnej súťaže a v neposlednom rade navrhnúť jednotnú metodiku priebehu verejnej súťaže, ktorá sa však môže meniť v jednotlivých štátoch vzhľadom na podmienky národnej legislatívy. Súčasťou jednotnej metodiky je určenie fáz procesu verejnej súťaže, ktoré sú súčasťou časového harmonogramu verejnej súťaže. Časový harmonogram verejnej súťaže zobrazuje celý cyklus, resp. trvanie jednotlivých fáz verejnej súťaže pre každú navrhovanú skupinu prijatých opatrení.
The paper describes the issue of supporting the connection of logistics centers to rail transport. The transitive economics like Slovak Republic and Czech Republic are very open to the development of ...logistic technologies as well as to build new logistic chains. The problem is the decreasing share of modal split for rail transportation what does not meet with the transport policy of EU. This could be further increased by constructing private siding in logistics areas. The key issue is how to connect these centers to the rail network, to analyze the legislation and others obstacles for their connection to the rail network. The proposal could also be an answer for how to increase the level of support of rail transport usage in logistic chains.
The article focuses on the description of an innovative solution and application of active thermal protection of buildings using thermal insulation panels with active regulation of heat transfer in ...the form of a contact insulation system. The thermal insulation panels are part of a prefabricated lightweight outer shell, which together with the low-temperature heating and high-temperature cooling system creates an indoor environment. The energy source is usually renewable energy sources or technological waste heat. Research and development of an innovative facade system with active thermal protection is in the phase of computer simulations and preparation of laboratory measurements of thermal insulation panels with various combinations of energy functions. In the article we present theoretical assumptions, calculation procedure and parametric study of three basic design solutions of combined energy wall systems in the function of low-temperature radiant heating and high-temperature radiant cooling.
Participatory budgeting (PB) is often described as one of the most successful instruments for participation, engaging people in decision-making, and prioritising where to allocate public money. It ...has travelled in the form of comprehensive administrative reforms and politically neutral devices to improve governance, especially when arriving to Europe and the Central Eastern European region (CEE). Recently, it was brought to light that PB development in the CEE region was undoubtedly different from the original case; instead of resulting in radical changes to increase activities in favour of marginalised groups, it results only in small changes. This work presents a single case study of the Czech city Brno; information consisting of age, gender, education, economic activity, and preferences of all the PB participants was collated for five years, from its inception in 2017 till 2021. In this case, we observe and analyse the particularities of the participant group, not only in static terms of one year but also drafting a trend on how the participatory base developed throughout the five years. Both desk and field research were employed to gather data. The turnout at PB voting does not copy the general demographic composition of Brno’s residents. Results show that some segments are represented by PB voters with higher proportions, making them more involved in deciding which projects in the city are to be executed using PB. In this way, the description of data-gathering in Brno contributes to the methodology of quantitative data gathering, which might be expanded to other CEE cities in order to elaborate comparisons in the future.
Nowadays logistics is a dynamically evolving discipline. According to definitions logistics is an inter-disciplinary science which improves the quality of business processes and which enables ...companies to react to demands of a market as well as of a customer faster. Today when a great emphasis is put on the quality and high level of provided services the application of optimisation methods in logistic processes is a necessity. The article addresses the optimisation of transport processes within a logistic chain. Generally, the optimisation methods are more and more frequently utilised to manage logistic chains because their results bring proposals to improve business processes. Advantages of optimisation methods include the reduction of costs of transport charges, storage or production processes. Besides an economic merit of the optimisation process there also increases the efficiency of time needed for logistic operations execution. The article aims to use the information obtained through an analysis of the current state of a selected part of a selected business’s logistic chain to prepare a proposal of measures within transport processes, and subsequently to evaluate them from the economic point of view. In order to achieve the goal the work must be divided into a theoretical-methodological part, and the application part. The aim of the optimisation is focused on a more effective utilisation of transport means, technologies and human resources. The application part contains an analysis of transport routes, and an optimisation using methods of an operational research. The work applies the Nearest Neighbour Methods and Vogel’s Approximation Method. The conclusion of the article presents an evaluation of optimised routes, their economic results and suggestions for business processes improvement.
In the field of railway operation, it is essential to establish uniform conditions for interconnectivity requirements and compatibility of equipment in the Pan-European railway area to ensure ...effective interoperability. It also includes, for example, the introduction of a control system with modern and advanced interlocking systems (safety devices). The European Train Control System (ETCS) is a single European train protection system that will increase safety in rail transport. Nevertheless, this system may have an impact on the throughput on those railway lines where it is applied. The main research objective is to determine the impacts and effects of the configuration of track signaling equipment on the operational management of traffic and especially on the creation of a traffic plan. The optimization of transport processes on the railway infrastructure means creating the conditions for achieving higher throughput performance, especially including a higher number of train paths into the train traffic diagram. This paper examines and compares the impacts of ETCS and its levels (in particular ETCS L3) on the practical throughput of the selected national infrastructure manager. A heuristic procedure is used with the application of the analytical methodology of the Railways of the Slovak Republic (ŽSR), which uses the principles of mathematical statistics and probability. Significant comparative indicators are occupancy times and the degree of utilization of practical throughput. These are used in investment decisions in the modernization of line sections to achieve interoperability of the railway system.
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