Some approaches to reduce transport time of intermodal services: Smart rail investments

Rail intermodal services are an alternative to all-road services if the average transport time offered by these services is at least comparable. One of the determinants of transport time is how well actors in the transport chain cooperate. In this paper it is shown that substantial improvements in rail transport time are possible if these actors improve their cooperation substantially. This goes along with relatively moderate investments (a few million Euros per case). Such investments may then be regarded as a cost-effective alternative for (multi-billion) investments in rail infrastructure. This is particularly relevant in an era where budgets for rail infrastructure are either limited or create an additional burden for already debt-ridden countries.