Abnormal road transport is unloaded vehicle or vehicle loaded by undivided object, where one or several generally allowed dimension or weight limits are exceeded. Although abnormal road transports represent less than one percent of all road transports, it is a very significant segment of road transports. The obtained abnormal road transport permits has increased during the last years and the amount is at the present about 12 000 permits per year. Finnish Road Administration has centralized permit operations for abnormal road transports to Hame Region and permit operations are under a development process. In a predominant dynamic business environment the time span for abnormal road transport planning has shortened according to general logistic development trends. Transport operations are often performed during same day as order is received. Therefore permit process is required to be fast, effective and flexible. Nowadays permit process operates according to the needs of business life and handling times are remarkably faster than service agreement given by Road Administration. In an international comparison handling times and availability of permits for abnormal road transports are at high level in Finland. Abnormal road transports are extremely important for metal and engineering industries and building construction industry. Also technical trade and forest machinery business areas are significant clients of abnormal road transports. In examination of abnormal road transports the transports can be divided into two segments: project transports of extremely large products and other abnormal transports. Although the amount of large project transports is relatively small, they are a challenging and planning intensive segment of abnormal transports. Time span of planning process is typically long and on the other hand transport operators are in general professionally skilled. Also the role of Road Administration is more essential, because transport routes are usually planned in co-operation and Road Administration is involved in several stages of planning process. Other abnormal road transports are more dynamic from planning process point of view and are related mainly to transports of various construction equipments. Time span in these transports are usually only few hours and therefore fast permit operations are essential for this transport segment. Development of route permits has decreased the need of single permit granting. Transport environment and costs both in procurement and finished products are one significant factor in decision making related to the location of production units. In prevailing global production and market structures operational preconditions have a great importance. Therefore abnormal road transports are in an important role for industrial operations in Finland in the future business environment. This report may be found at http://alk.tiehallinto.fi/julkaisut/pdf/3201040-v-erikoiskuljetustoiminnan_asiakastarpeet.pdf
The aim of this survey was to define the different railway traffic actors' information needs regarding punctuality. The starting assumption was that at present not all actors are given sufficient information regarding punctuality. The theoretical framework of the study showed that punctuality is an excellent indicator of the quality and performance of the railway traffic. It was discovered that the information needs are the starting point for the whole process of producing information. In other words, information about punctuality is needed and the information production in relation to this should always be based on identified information needs. In spite of this, it turned out that information needs regarding punctuality have not been systematically studied before. In the absence of research results, extensive empirical material - 27 expert interviews - was gathered. The interviewees were selected with the purpose of covering all central actors and processes. The interviews were carried out as half-structured theme interviews in order to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. On the basis of the interviews, the information needs were divided into parts of entities representing the processes of railway traffic on a general level. These were: railway network development, railway network maintenance, passenger traffic development, freight traffic, rolling stock maintenance, planning of railway network usage (which was further divided into longterm planning, capacity planning and timetable planning), the coordination of track work and traffic, traffic control, the management of disturbances and exceptional situations, customers, customer service personnel and communications. The activities in each part of entity were divided into 3-4 phases according to the iterative development model (PDCA) used in business processes. In addition, 2-5 of the most significant actor groups were identified in each part of entity. This was followed by an analysis, from the perspective of these two dimensions, on what type of information regarding punctuality would be required and what it should be used for, as well as how and when this information should be made available. Furthermore, it was assessed how well the presented information needs are met at the moment. The groups which would benefit from the punctuality data were identified on an extensive basis; from the strategic management to the operational actors. The needs of these different actor groups vary profoundly. For example infrastructure development requires historical and trend data stretching over several years, while the traffic control needs real-time and even anticipating data about the punctuality of one single train. Excess information complicates the activities and hampers decision-making. The information needs defined in the survey should steer the development of how punctuality data is gathered, stored, analysed and distributed so that the right persons get the right information at the right time. The final goal should naturally be, along with meeting the information needs, to improve the present standard of punctuality in the railway traffic. This is ultimately a question of punctuality management. This report may be found at http://alk.tiehallinto.fi/julkaisut/pdf3/lts_2011-12_rautatieliikenteen_tasmallisyyteen_web.pdf
Punctuality is a key indicator of a rail system's performance and service quality. The monitoring of punctuality enables to assess how Infrastructure Manager and Railway Undertaking have succeeded in their responsibilities. Punctuality monitoring and analysis is aimed at identifying means and resource allocation targets for the improvement of rail traffic performance and quality. The objective of this study has been to describe punctuality practices in different countries, which might prove useful in developing punctuality analysis systems in Finland. This has involved a closer study of four countries: Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Japan. The punctuality practices of nine other countries were investigated on a more general level. Punctuality indicators vary between countries. Based on the findings of this study, the most common approach is to compare train arrival times in relation to timetables. However, measurement practices and accuracies vary. In recent years, several countries have developed practices relating to punctuality, but these developments have not necessarily involved the harmonisation of practices. In some cases, customer experiences are considered just as important an indicator as train running punctuality. In Switzerland, for example, the collection of customer feedback on rail services and punctuality has long been an established practice. When recording delay information, it is important that information on the party responsible for the delay is included in the delay cause field. In improving punctuality, another good practice would be task lists generated on the basis of disturbance notifications. The recording of information on the causes of a delay could be improved using a system that suggests causes, as is the case in Switzerland. However, this would require the combination of information from different systems. While attitudes to performance incentives vary across countries, there was a general consensus that they represent good practice and are beneficial to quality monitoring and improvement. Performance incentives often face the challenge posed by data reliability. Indeed, this is the single-most important reason for their not having been introduced. Punctuality analysis tools remain rudimentary in many countries, even though the need for improvement has been recognised. Separate analysis tools are only used in some countries. Evidence of advanced data analytics was found only in Japan, where an investigation has begun into the feasibility of applying data mining methods in punctuality analysis. This report may be found at http://alk.tiehallinto.fi/julkaisut/pdf3/lts_2010-42_rautatieliikenteen_tasmallisyyden_web.pdf
