Metropolitan freight distribution by railways: a methodology to support the feasibility analysis

This paper presents the obtained results of a methodology implemented for the feasibility analysis, both technical and economic, of freight distribution systems in urban and/or metropolitan areas using railways, which includes a system of urban freight demand models. The scope of this research is to assess a competitive rail transport option with respect road truck transport for some specific types of goods. The first part of the paper presents a state-of-the-art focusing on international and national experiences of the use of railways infrastructures for urban freight distribution, and describes the general framework of freight demand models for urban and metropolitan areas; the latter proposes a modelling system to estimate the freight demand to be used within the methodology for the technical and economic feasibility analysis of freight distribution systems using railways infrastructures. Finally, results of an application to a real test case are reported. They refer to the study case of the Sorrentina peninsula, which is one of the most famous tourist areas near Naples (centre-Italy), well-known for its low accessibility by roads.