Economic Benefits of Productivity Increases Through Truck-to-Rail Mode Shift in Freight Transport.

015992832016Final ReportPDFTech ReportNURail2012-UIC-R09Grant Number: DTRT12-G-UTC18 (Grant 1)NURail Project ID: NURail2012-UIC-R09Freight transportationEconomic benefitsIntermodal transportationTruckingMathematical modelsRailroad transportationResearch HubEconomicsFreight TransportationMotor CarriersPlanning and ForecastingRailroadsChicago (Illinois)United StatesNational University Rail Center (U.S.)Kawamura, KazuyaFu, ElizabethMcNally, AlexandraNational University Rail Center (U.S.)US Transportation CollectionAlthough the study of economic benefits of improving (or not improving) the efficiency of freight movement has been recognized as one of the critical research topic by the decision makers and researchers alike, there remains a dearth of transparent and theoretically sound method to actually estimate the impacts. While there are many factors, the lack of reliable tools to simulate how the efficiency changes affect the flow of goods and also the absence of the framework to translate the output into an economic impact measure are two major obstacles. This study applies a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model for the Chicago region to analyze the impacts of productivity increase in the trucking sector