Smart rail infrastructure planning for smart cities: A prague rail hub case study

Abstract

The Smart Cities concept needs, among others, efficient and sustainable public transport system, as a precondition for implementation of smart mobility. Besides well-researched problems, an efficient long-term rail infrastructure development is also crucial for improvement of transport system performance and quality of life. In this paper, a system-oriented approach for coordinated rail infrastructure planning is proposed. Thereafter, the approach is briefly demonstrated on the example of Prague rail hub area. The conclusion is that not only advanced traffic management and signaling systems, but also efficient service concept, which includes synergistic effect between various segments of rail transport, iteratively coordinated with capacity and land use planning, can substantially increase the rail system efficiency and usable network capacity.