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TRANSPORTNET-EST

Final Activity Report Summary - TRANSPORTNET-EST

In today's global world the mobility of people and goods has become a central issue. Good and reliable transportation systems contribute to economic growth and development, to cultural and social exchange and to the improvement of human relations. However, the increasing flows of transport also generate considerable external costs, such as environmental damage, accidents, congestion and infrastructure damage.

The education and training of young researchers in this field was one of the major targets of TRANSPORTNET. As part of this target, the network hosted a training programme for young researchers in four major areas for which wider research experience was built up, namely:

1. analysing and understanding the business decisions and strategies of shippers, transporters and logistics suppliers, in order to stimulate intermodal and multimodal transport
2. setting up tools for a dynamic analysis and monitoring of transportation policies, enabling analysing and understanding the main direct and indirect impacts caused by policy measures
3. setting up tools supporting the management of growth of trans-European transport networks, railway corridors in particular, to allow for the harmonisation of asset extensions or renewal policies and to ensure the durability of the infrastructure
4. analysing and understanding all the issues involved in urban transport of people and goods as it caused intense congestion, a rising frequency of accidents and environmental problems.

The selected research topics were as follows:

1. for research area I: at University of Antwerp: Monica Grosso: 'Multimodal Freight Transport in Europe: an economic analysis', Xiaoning Shi: 'Game Theoretical Application in the Liner Shipping Industry', at University of Lyon: Ms. Hend Selmi: 'Parking pricing and Behaviour of motorists: stated preference approach', Patricia Coelho: 'The Influence of the Flow of Traffic Generated for Airports in the Air Quality - study of case in the two main airports of the Rio de Janeiro'.
2. In research area II: University of Karlsruhe: David Carillo: 'The Modal-Choice in a Hinterland Actor-based approach for Freight transport modelling', Anne Silla: 'Railway Trespassing', University of the Aegean: Sara Levy: 'Operationalisation of universal service in insular areas', Fabio Spina: 'Analysis of legal issues and identification of possible conflicts between universal service in insular areas and free market competition'.
3. for research area III: University of Genova: Paresa Markianidou: 'Deindustrialisation and its consequences on Seaborne trade', and Ana Rita Lynce: 'Connecting Eastern Europe to the high speed rail network', at EPFL: Regina Witter: 'The role of public urban transport in the context of residential segregation and social inclusion - The case of Santiago de Chile', Susana Limao: 'Correlation Between Transport Intensity and GDP in European Regions'.
4. The last area, area IV, focussed on urban mobility policy under the following subjects: At University of Lisbon, Zahid Sultan: 'Creating sustainable transport policy by integrating Land use, Transport and Externalities' and Camila Henrique: 'Urban research applications', at Delft University of Technology Peter Los: 'Public transport' and Andre Duarte: 'Urban transport impacts'.

It was the purpose of this project to provide training to young researchers in the four areas by setting up a number of specific courses, seminars, summer schools and master classes, by admitting research fellows to existing courses at the partner universities and by active participation of the fellows in the research departments of the partners' institutions. In total, eight general research and four in-depth stream courses were held. Two intermediate network seminars were set up, as agreed, and one final colloquium and a special session at the world conference on transport research. Publications were made in journals like Transport Policy and Quarterly Journal of Economics, as well as compiled in book chapters. Presentations were also held at various conferences worldwide. The following thesis was successfully defended: David Carrillo, 5 July 2010 at University of Karlsruhe. All other fellows had their thesis under closure by the time of the project completion and were expected to defend them in 2011.