Rail Quality Based Index

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to establish an integrated rail quality based index to evaluate different freight wagons’ performance. All materials are collected through literature reviews and interviews. The Rail Quality Based Index (RQBI) is established in the form of cost that can represent the main quality aspects associated with freight wagons self-characteristics. The index construction includes four main components, i.e. infrastructure, energy, maintenance and noise. Each component’s cost can be calculated by applying different methods from previous studies. By comparing index value with benchmark, the RQBI can help different parties in rail freight industry to evaluate and compare their freight wagons quality performance. This research concludes costs differentiated by wagons’ characteristics and tries to represent them in an integrated index’s form. Though, due to data deficiency, validation of the index and establishment of relevant benchmarks are not fully discussed in this research, it helps to further understand quality evaluation of freight wagons and points out a new perspective of future relevant researches.