The development of a new route along the TIBRE Corridor, between the Tirrenian Sea and the Brenner Pass in Italy, would greatly improve the efficiency of freight transport in Italy. In particular, a direct connection is needed between the port of La Spezia and the city of Verona. This paper discusses some aspects of a study of the TIBRE Corridor, aiming to: (1) evaluate the evolution of freight transport demand and resulting economic impact within its area, for various future scenarios; and (2) define the optimal sequence of activities for upgrading the railway line, from an economic viewpoint. The two stages of the project were demand analysis, including the development of the `TIBRE database', and the definition of database', and the definition of the infrastructure and service requirements for the design of the railway supply. A model for simulating freight transport in the corridor was developed, using the MTCP (Macroscale Transport Chain Planner) simulation system. It had 42 centroids (origins and destinations of demand) and 192 urban nodes, and considered three transport nodes and the corresponding six interchange modalities. A generalised cost function is described, together with the types of results that the model can obtain. Short-term, medium-term, and long-term time horizons were considered, under conditions of low and high economic growth, giving eight scenarios.
Abstract