CE 244 Transportation Engineering

Module 1: Introduction to Transportation

Systems Engineering

Dr. Solomon Debbarma, Department of Civil Engineering

IIT Bombay, Email: [email protected]
Learning Outcomes
• What is a transportation system?
• What is role of transportation in modern society
and a country’s economy?
• What are the modes of transport and their
characteristics?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of
road transport?
• What are the characteristics of transportation
systems?
• What are the disciplines of transportation
systems?
• Course overview, schedule, lecture session,
practical
• Class rules and grading policy, reference
textbooks
Types of Engineering

• Chemical
• Electrical & Computer
• Mechanical
• Industrial

• And Civil Engineers!

Civil Engineers?
• Structures
• Hydraulics/Hydrology/Ocean
• Wastewater/Environmental
• Geotechnical
• Remote Sensing
• Construction

• Transportation
What do Transportation Engineers do?

• No Law that glamorizes the transportation

profession

• Transportation Engineers are, however, making a

difference all around us

• Plan, design, and build transportation systems

and infrastructures such as highways, bridges,
streets, and tunnels – along with supporting
systems to handle things like lighting safety and
traffic control
We plan, design, and build
transportation systems and infrastructures such as highways,
bridges, streets, and tunnels – along with supporting systems to
handle things like lighting safety and traffic control
Role of Transportation Systems
Engineering in Society

• Streets, highways, and transit systems that allow

people and goods to move safely and efficiently
• Backbone for a strong economy
• Key contributor in quality of life

• How many types of transportation can you

name?
• Write down on a piece of paper
all of the types of transportation
you can think of
Transportation Systems

Definition: A system consisting

of the fixed facilities, the flow
entities, and the control system
that permit people and goods to
overcome the friction of
geographical space efficiently in
order to participate in a timely
manner in some desired activity
 Fixed Facilities
• Definition: Physical components of a system that are fixed
in space and constitute the network of links (e.g., roadway
segments, railway track, and pipes) and nodes (e.g.,
intersections, interchanges, transit terminals, harbors, and
airports) of the transportation system

• Design of these facilities include soil and foundation

engineering, structural design, the design of drainage
systems, and geometric design
 Flow Entities
• Definition: Units that traverse the fixed facilities
• Include vehicles, container units, railroad cars, and so on
• Highway systems are expected 'to accommodate a wide variety of
vehicle types, ranging from bicycles to large tractor-trailer combinations
• Transportation engineering considers only the generic characteristics of
the flow entities, such as size, weight, and acceleration and
deceleration capabilities, rather than their specific technological design
which is normally undertaken by mechanical and electrical engineers
• Vehicular motion and vehicle flow equations expressed as general
relationships between the generic variables can be applied to many
vehicle technologies once their specific attributes are determined
 Control System
• The control system consists of vehicular control and flow control.
• Vehicular control – technological way in which individual vehicles are guided
on the fixed facilities.
• Can be manual or automated.
• Geometric design must incorporate, in addition to characteristics of the
vehicle, the characteristics of the vehicular control system.
• In case of highway facilities:
• Where vehicles are manually controlled – driver characteristics such as time a
driver takes to perceive and react to various stimuli – e.g., human factors.

• The flow control system consists of means that permit the efficient and
smooth operation of streams of vehicles and the reduction of conflicts
between vehicles. How?
• Signing, marking, and signal systems and the underlying rules of operation
 Purpose and Need
• Definition: A system consisting of the fixed facilities, the
flow entities, and the control system that permit people
and goods to overcome the friction of geographical space
efficiently in order to participate in a timely manner in
some desired activity
• To move people and goods from point A (origin) to point B
(destination)
• Naturally, need to know the demand in terms of people,
goods, location of origin and location of destination
 Transportation Demand
• Transportation systems are constructed as neither pure
expressions of engineering ingenuity nor monuments of purely
aesthetic quality
• They are built to serve people in undertaking their economic, social,
and cultural activities
• People do not normally travel or move their possessions (goods) for
the sake of movement but to fulfill certain needs, such as going to
school, work, shop, or visit friends
• Hence, the demand for transportation is derived, or indirect

Transportation engineers are concerned with accommodating these

societal activities by providing efficient ways to satisfy the population’s
needs for mobility
Role of Transportation in
Modern Society
• Transport and Economic growth
• Place and time utility of goods
• Transport overcomes the separation between the producer and the consumer
• Preservation of quality of goods
• Exploitation of natural resources American roads are not good because
• Transport and urbanization America is rich, but America is rich
because American roads are good.
• Transport and industrial development
• Transport and agricultural development – US President John F Kennedy
• Administration
• Defence and Strategic needs
• Tourism
• Transport facilitates social activities
Transportation plays a major role in the development of the human
civilization
 Role of Transportation in India
• A country’s economy depends upon how well served it is by its roads, railways,
airports, ports, pipelines, and shipping
• Country’s economic growth is closely linked to the growth in the transport
sector
• In India, road transport grows at 2 time of the economy growth
• The multiplier 2 in this case is commonly known as the Elasticity of Transport
demand with respect to Gross National Product
• During 1951-1980, India’s economy grew at around 3.5%, and road transport
grew at around 7.5%
• Since 1980, the economic growth has been around 5%, and the road transport
around 10%
• Economy grew by 6.8% in 2024
• Now India is poised for 8-9% economic growth
• Road transport is expected to grow at 12-14% (Assuming the elasticity
coefficient of 1.5)
Transportation Modes & their
Characteristics

Surface Air

Water Pipeline
Surface Modes

Bicycle

Transit

Highways &
Streets
Pedestrian
Highways & Railways

Surface Elevated

Light Rail Transit Underground (Tube)

Freight

• Truck and railroad:

• Key component in the economy
• Provides goods
and services
Air

Dual purpose
• Movement of people
and goods
• Creation/expansion
of business and
industry
Water

• Water transportation
• Primarily for freight movement
• Bulky commodities with low cost per unit
• National system
• Waterways
• Lakes
• Oceans
• Ports
Water Transport

• Coastal shipping
• International shipping
• Inland water transport

• NOT covered in the Syllabus!

Transportation Facts in USA

• 1.6 million hours per day stuck in traffic

• Avg. person spends one hour per day in their car
• 160,000 traffic signals
in the US
• Cost of congestion is
$40 Billion per year

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under

CC BY
Transportation Facts in India
• India has about 66.71 lakh km of road network, which is
second largest in the world.
• National Highways: 1,46,145 km
• State Highways: 1,79,535 km National Highways play important role in
India’s economic and social development
• Other Roads: 63,45,403 km

MoRTH and its

implementing
agencies undertaking
multiple initiatives to
augment capacity of
National Highway
infrastructure in India.
Transportation Facts in India
• National Highway Network
Transportation Facts in India
• National Highway (NH) network increased by ~60% from
91,287 km in 2014 to 1,45,145 km in year 2023.
Measure of efficiency of a transport
system
• Speed Speed is the essence of transport
• Safety Safety for passengers demands highest possible
standards of construction, maintenance and
• Adequacy operation
• Frequency Adequacy represents capacity of a mode to transport
• Regularity people and goods
• Comfort Frequency is related to capacity, consolidation and
storage
• Cost, Fuel
efficiency Regularity is punctuality of a service
Comfort is essential for passenger transport
Cheapness is main consideration for consumer
preferences
• Employment generation – Integration – Responsibilities
Characteristics of Different Modes
Mode Normal Speed Remarks
Range in India
(km/hr)

Railway 50 – 120 • Speed depends on gauge and

number of tracks
• Speeds upto 250 km/hr are possible
(e.g., New Tokaido line in Japan)
Road • Speed depends on pavement width
Transport 50 – 120 and terrain
Cars 30 – 80 • Values are given for good roads in
Buses and 25 – 60 plain terrain
trucks 8 – 15
Two-wheelers 15 – 40
Cycles
Autorickshaws
Characteristics of Different Modes
Mode Normal Speed Remarks
Range in India
(km/hr)
Air transport Air transport is the fastest and is
Boeing 747 1000 about
Boeing 707 950 10–20 times faster than road
Feeder aircraft 300 – 400 and railway transport.
Water
transport 35 – 55
Ocean liners 15 – 35
Coastal ships 10 – 25
Inland water
barges
Pipelines 5 – 10
Ropeways 5 – 10
Safety

• Rail transport, if adequate measures are taken to

ensure safety at crossings, railways are reasonably
safe.
• Road transport is increasing becoming unsafe with
spectacular growth of traffic
• Water transport, pipelines and ropeways in modern
times are generally very safe
• Air transport has good record of safety!
Adequacy

• Railways can meet seasonal fluctuations in traffic,

but generally capacity is wasted as a rule
• Carrying capacity is generally restricted by gauge,
no. of tracks and traction device
• Superfast express trains consists of over 20 coaches
and carry over 1500 passengers
• Metros and Rapid Transit Systems can
accommodate trains with a headway of 2 minutes,
carrying up to 60,000 persons/hr/direction
• Capacity of roads is governed by the pavement
width and terrain
Frequency

• Almost all modes of modern transport offer

regular, frequent and assured service
Responsibility

Railways are government-owned in India

Road transport of freight, though in private hands,

also offers a kind of insurance coverage

Air transport, on the other hand, covers a high degree

of insurance cover
Comfort

In railways, especially sleeper berths and upper class are

generally more comfortable for long-journeys than by bus.

Provisions of toilets is absent in buses.

Stoppages at convenient places for toilets facilitates and

refreshments help to overcome this drawback to some extent.

Air travel is the most convenient form of transport.

Cost

• Travel by rail and bus in India cost almost the same.

• For e.g., bus fare is 15-20 paise per seat per km.
• AC first class costs about Rs. 1.50 per seat.
• Air seat costs about Rs. 3.00 per seat per km.
• As regards of freight, road transport costs about Rs.
1.00 per tonne per km.
Transportation System

• Transportation systems analysis

is a recognized profession
• Government organizations,
universities, researchers,
consultants, and private industrial
groups around the world are
becoming truly multi-modal in
their orientation and are opting a
systematic approach to
transportation problems
Characteristics of a
Transportation System
• Multi-modal: Covering all modes of transport; air, land, and sea for both
passenger and freight.
• Multi-sector: Encompassing the problems and viewpoints of government,
private industry, and public.
• Multi-problem: Ranging across a spectrum of issues that includes
national and international policy, planning of regional system, the
location and design of specific facilities, carrier management issues,
regulatory, institutional and financial policies.
• Multi-objective: Aiming at national and regional economic development,
urban development, environment quality, and social quality, as well as
service to users and financial and economic feasibility.
• Multi-disciplinary: Drawing on the theories and methods of engineering,
economics, operations research, political science, psychology, other
natural, and social sciences, management and law.
Study Context

• Planning range: Urban transportation planning,

producing long range plans for 5-25 years for multi-
modal transportation systems in urban areas as well
as short range programs of action for less than five
years.
• Passenger transport: Regional passenger
transportation, dealing with inter-city passenger
transport by air, rail, and highway and possible with
new modes.
• Freight transport: Routing and management, choice
of different modes of rail and truck.
• International transport: Issues such as
containerization, inter-modal co-ordination.
A Changing World

• Change in the demand: When the population, income, and land-

use pattern changes, the pattern of demand changes; both in the
amount and spatial distribution of that demand.
• Changes in the technology: Earlier, only two alternatives (bus
transit and rail transit) were considered for urban transportation.
Now new systems like LRT, MRTS, etc. offer a variety of
alternatives.
• Change in operational policy: Variety of policy options designed
to improve the efficiency, such as incentive for car-pooling, bus
fare, road tolls, etc.
• Change in values of the public: Earlier, all beneficiaries of a
system was monolithically considered as users. Now, not one
system can be beneficial to all, instead one must identify the
target groups like rich, poor, young, work trip, leisure, etc.
Role of Transportation Engineer

• In spite of the diversity of problem types, institutional contexts and

technical perspectives there is an underlying unity: a body of
theory and set of basic principles to be utilized in every analysis of
transportation systems.
• The core of this is the transportation system analysis approach. The
focus of this is the interaction between the transportation and
activity systems of region.
• This approach is to intervene, delicately and deliberately in the
complex fabric of society to use transport effectively in
coordination with other public and private actions to achieve the
goals of that society.
• For this the analyst must have substantial understanding of the
transportation systems and their interaction with activity systems;
which requires understanding of the basic theoretical concepts and
available empirical knowledge.
Multi-modal Transportation System

• The total transportation system must be viewed as a single multi-

modal system
• Considerations of transportation system cannot be separated from
considerations of social, economic, and political system of the
region
• Consider all modes of transportation
• Consider all elements of transportation like persons, goods,
carriers (vehicles), paths in the network facilities in which
vehicles are going, the terminal, etc.
• Consider all movements of passengers and goods for every
O-D pair.
• Consider the total trip for every flows for every O-D over all
modes and facilities
E.g.: Intra-City Passenger Transport

• Consider all modes: i.e. rail, road, buses, private automobiles,

trucks, new modes like LRT, MRTS, etc.
• Consider all elements like direct and indirect links, vehicles
that can operate, terminals, transfer points, intra-city transit
like taxis, autos, urban transit.
• Consider diverse pattern of O-D of passenger and goods.
• Consider service provided for access, egress, transfer points
and mid-block travel, etc.
Once all these components are identified, the planner
can focus on elements that are of real concern
 Major Disciplines

Transportation planning Geometric design

Pavement engineering Traffic engineering

 Geometric Design

• Deals with physical proportioning

of other transportation facilities, in
contrast with the structural design
of the facilities.
• Topics include the cross-sectional
features, horizontal alignment,
vertical alignment and
intersections.
• Although there are several modes
of travel like road, rail, air, etc. the
underlying principles are common
to a great extent.
Therefore, emphasis will be normally
given for the geometric design of
roads
 Transportation Planning

• Transportation planning essentially involves the

development of a transport model which will
accurately represent both the current as well as future
transportation system.
 Cross section of typical rigid pavement

• Deals with the structural design of roads, both flexible

pavements and rigid pavements.

Pavement • Deals with the design of paving materials, determination of

the layer thickness, and construction and maintenance
Analysis procedures.

and Design • Mainly covers structural aspects, functional aspects,

drainage.
• Structural design ensures the pavement has enough strength
to withstand the impact of loads, functional design
emphasizes on the riding quality, and the drainage design
protects the pavement from damage due to water infiltration.
 Traffic Engineering
• Covers a broad range of engineering applications with a focus on the safety of the public, the
efficient use of transportation resources, and the mobility of people and goods.
• Involves design, operation, and system optimization skills.
• A traffic engineer must first understand the traffic flow behavior and characteristics by extensive
collection of traffic flow data and analysis.
• Traffic flow is controlled so that the transport infrastructure is used optimally as well as with
good service quality.
• Traffic engineer is responsible to protect the environment while providing mobility, to preserve
scarce resources while assuring economic activity, and to assure safety and security to people
and vehicles, through both acceptable practices and high-tech communications.

Combined
diagrams
 Other important disciplines

• Air, Rail transportation and planning

• Public transportation: Deals with study of the transportation
system that meets the travel need of several people by sharing a
vehicle.
• Generally, focuses on the urban travel by bus and rail transit
• The major topics include characteristics of various modes; planning,
management and operations; and policies for promoting public
transportation.
• Financial and economic analysis:
• Transportation facilities require large capital investments with
expected returns.
• Government often invests with objective of social benefits.
• Private sector investments require monetary profits.
• The economic analysis of transportation project tries to quantify the
economic benefit which includes saving in travel time, fuel
consumption, etc. and help planner in evaluating various projects and
to optimally allocate funds.
• Financial evaluation tries to quantify the return from a project.
 Other important disciplines

• Environmental impact assessment: Transportation,

despite its benefits to the society, is a major contributor
to environmental pollution.
• The environmental impact assessment attempts to quantify
the environmental impacts and tries to evolve strategies for
the mitigation and reduction of the impact due to both
construction and operation.
• The primary impacts are fuel consumption, air pollution, and
noise pollution.
• Accident analysis and reduction: Several statistics
evaluates that more people are killed due to
transportation than great wars and natural disasters.
This discipline of transportation looks at the causes of
accidents, from the perspective of human, road, and
vehicle and formulate plans for the reduction.
 Other important disciplines

• Intelligent transport system: With advent to

computers, communication, and vehicle
technology, it is possible in these days to operate
transportation system much effectively with
significant reduction in the adverse impacts of
transportation. Intelligent transportation system
offers better mobility, efficiency, and safety with the
help of the state-of-the-art-technology.
• Disciplines specific to various modes are also
common. This includes railway engineering, port
and harbor engineering, and airport engineering.