Key performance indicators for freight networks

A large amount of literature addresses performance measurements in transport. It predominantly covers defining and measuring performance of transport infrastructure, or transport systems operated by or for the public sector. There is an even larger range of reports, books and web applications covering performance measurement for private sector organisations. Thus the task of developing freight network performance indicators for New South Wales might have been expected to be a case of recipe selection. It was instead necessary to go back to basic principles to set a research framework and develop a set of network indicators suited to their purpose. Here a brief consideration of the requirements for performance measurement in general is followed by a description of the context for performance measurement of transport networks from the viewpoint of business and industry who value freight network efficiency, capacity and the NSW community at large which values freight network sustainability. Selection of a set of measures large enough to cover key aspects of performance but small enough to be manageable is then addressed. Discussion of two example key performance indicators illustrates issues of indicator selection and measurement including initial measurement where data limitations may lead to satisfying rather-than-optimal indicators. Options for indicator update and extension conclude the argument. This paper thus highlights the importance of setting up transport research frameworks to fully reflect context as well as providing insights into measurement of transport network performance from a freight perspective.