Guidelines Integral Business case light RAil (LIBRA) : theory and initial practices During the last fifteen years, many light rail initiatives have seen the light. Yet few of them have been actually converted into realistic projects. Many studies suggest that, in order to counter this lack of progress, improvements need to be made in the project approach. A clear project definition and view on the objectives of a (light rail) project are often missing or poorly defined. ECORYS Transport has developed -in co-operation with Railned, RIB and rail operators -a methodology to make an Integral Business Case: LIBRA. LIBRA provides tools to define which goals should be met and how to develop realistic alternatives. Furthermore, LIBRA helps to understand which actors are involved, what their interests are and what risks to anticipate. Also, LIBRA supports the evaluation of different alternatives on three levels and provides a tool to optimise alternatives according to the goals, actors and risks as defined. Apart from `transport aspects' LIBRA also incorporates spatial, economic, social and strategic benefits. LIBRA is currently applied successfully in two (light rail) projects: RegioRail KAN and Agglolijn Twente. Next.year, LIBRA will be updated with the latest insights gained from those and other projects. (Author/publisher)
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