Economic Assessment of Seasonal Unevenness in Railway Infrastructure Loading

The article considers the problem of seasonal uneven transportation and its impact on transport infrastructure loading. The objective of the study is to develop scientifically sound recommendations for monitoring seasonal unevenness of transportation and infrastructure loading based on its adequate assessment; conducting economic assessment of the impact of seasonality of transportation on the indicators of current and investment activity of railway transport; making recommendations to further reduce unevenness of transportation, or at least prevent its growth.
The authors solved the following tasks: a reasoned, logically structured sequence of economic assessment of the impact of seasonality of transportation on the indicators of current and investment activities of railway transport was formed, and scientifically based recommendations were proposed to further reduce uneven transportation (toprevent its growth). The following methods were used: logical and analytical tools, methods of statistical analysis, economic-mathematical modelling and technical and economic calculations.
As a result of the study, the authors revealed that seasonal uneven loading of railway infrastructure leads to a decrease in quality of transportation and a deterioration in the market image of the railway industry, an increase in operating costs and cost of transportation, that is, to a decrease in efficiency and competitiveness of railways. The uneven transportation negatively affects the effectiveness of investments in development of railway transport.
The analysis made it possible to formulate a theoretical model of influence of seasonal unevenness of railway infrastructure loading on efficiency of its use and development. It is advisable to use the methodological toolkit for assessing seasonal unevenness of railway infrastructure loading for its in-depth retrospective analysis, identifying the main factors affecting unevenness indicators and determining the maximum permissible level of seasonal unevenness.
The developed model of influence of seasonal unevenness of loading on use and development of railway infrastructure allows to carry out economic assessment of seasonal unevenness, is a tool to improve planning and management of transportation activities and development of railways. The reduction in seasonal unevenness of transportation should be considered as a factor increasing the economic efficiency of not only the current, but also investment activity of the railway transport, while its growth should be considered as a specific type of risk for effectiveness of implementation of railway infrastructure development projects.

transport, seasonal unevenness of infrastructure loading, railway infrastructure, normalized work, operating costs, transportation costs, economic efficiency

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