Developments and prospects of freight railway transport in Northern Germany:a Delphi survey

Abstract

Despite the fact that Germany has a well expanded traffic infrastructure, it confronts a strong growth in freight volumes and it is very likely that in the forthcoming years will not be able to reasonably cope with the increasing demand. The aim of this paper is to explore the developments of the transport sector, railways in particular, in North Germany. More specific, the paper explores whether the railway network could contribute to improved traffic development in North Germany and also whether or not the existing logistics practices are effective enough to cope with the traffic problems in the region. The research based on the Delphi technique, collected, analysed and summarised the opinions of a group of experts in the aforementioned issues. Results indicate that railways could represent the solution to the forecasted growing freight volumes in the next years. In spite of continuous efforts undertaken by the politics and the economy, the existing logistics and freight traffic concepts are not sufficient, financing is too scarce, while emerging issues like sustainability, environment protection and working conditions are taken into little consideration.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJLSM.2014.063982
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Engineering Systems and Supply Chain Management
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
Additional Information: International journal of logistics systems and management is the original source of publication.
Uncontrolled Keywords: logistics,working conditions,environmental protection,freight transport,rail transport,rail freight,sustainability,Delphi method,Germany,transport industry,sustainable development; railways
Publication ISSN: 1742-7975
Last Modified: 01 Mar 2024 08:10
Date Deposited: 11 Sep 2014 14:20
Full Text Link: http://www.inde ... php?artid=63982
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2014
Published Online Date: 2014-07-07
Authors: Zitz, Gabriela
Matopoulos, Aristides (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-5083-0534)

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