Efficiency in rail systems through three different approaches and contributions to push the Brazilian rail system toward high performance

Tese (Doutorado em Administração) - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2019Inclui bibliografiaThis research investigates the efficiency of the Brazilian rail cargo system (SFBC, acronym in Portuguese). The importance of the performance of a rail system to the logistics of goods in countries with large territorial dimensions is recognized. However, its role is secondary in Brazil compared to road transport, representing high economic and environmental costs. SFBC is dedicated to the export of mineral and agricultural bulk where it has a significant capacity for insertion. Meanwhile, the SFBC has an insignificant participation in the internal distribution of goods, which is mostly done in highways, including on longer routes. Consequently, the transport sector in Brazil emits twice as much CO2 from buming fuels than the world average. SFBC presents characteristics of a medium performance scenario. The performance of the operators is heterogeneous, benchmarking is an outlier, the average efficiency is low, and the average idleness of the sections is high. To discuss the conditions to achieve a high performance scenario is the main contribution of this thesis. Three researches were done to address this issue. The first one is dedicated to estimate the efficiency of the railway concessionaires in Brazil between 2010-2014 by using Data Envelopment Analysis. In a second stage, the significance of selected variables was assessed through Bootstrap Truncated Regression, including the type of the use of the railway track (shared or monopoly), a gap in the literature. The operators were grouped according to the efficiency scores and the type of returns to scale, and measures to increase the efficiency of the clusters were discussed. The second research has the purpose to explain the heterogeneity found in the average efficiency of the different railway systems in the world, the object of researches done between 2000-2016, through a meta-analysis carried out for the first time onj railways. For greater robustness, Leave-One-Out-Cross-Validation and VVeighted Regression were applied. Public policies induding diversification of services and models for assessing efficiency by regulatory agencies were discussed. The third research is devoted to the efficiency of the SFBC raílway sections and identifies the significant conditions for high and low performance scenarios by combining the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution and a differential evolution algorithm for estimating the weights of variables in optimized scenarios, another gap in the literature. In a second stage, the significance of the variables selected was evaluated. The research shows that the public manager should push the rail companies toward the transportation of any type of cargo, the diversification of services, the centralized control of the operation, and the sharing of the railway track. The competition and diversifìcation are significant for high performance.A pesquisa investiga a eficiência do Sistema Ferroviário Brasileiro de Cargas (SFBC). É reconhecida a importância do desempenho de um sistema ferroviário para a logística de mercadorias em países de grandes dimensões territoriais. Todavia, seu papel é secundário no Brasil frente ao transporte rodoviário, representando custos econômicos e ambientais excedentes. O SFBC se mantém dedicado à exportação de granéis sólidos minerais e agrícolas onde apresenta significativa capacidade de inserção, enquanto é inexpressiva sua participação na distribuição interna de bens, majoritariamente realizada pelo setor rodoviário, inclusive em rotas mais longas. Assim, o setor de transporte no Brasil emite o dobro de CO2 pela queima de combustíveis do que a média mundial. O SFBC apresenta características de um cenário de média performance. O desempenho dos operadores é heterogêneo, o benchmarking é um outlier, a eficiência média é baixa e a ociosidade média das seções é alta. Discutir as condições para alcançar um cenário de alta performance é a principal contribuição da tese. Para atingir esse objetivo, foram realizadas três pesquisas. A primeira se dedica à eficiência dos concessionários ferroviários no Brasil no período 2010-2014, com o uso de Data Envelopment Analysis. Num segundo estágio, através de Bootstrap Truncated Regression, foi avaliada a significância de variáveis selecionadas, incluindo o tipo de uso da via, gap da literatura. Os operadores foram agrupados segundo os resultados de eficiência e o tipo de retornos de escala das operações e medidas para o aumento da eficiência dos clusters foram discutidas. A segunda pesquisa tem por objetivo explicar a heterogeneidade encontrada na eficiência média de diversos sistemas ferroviários no mundo, objeto de pesquisas realizadas entre 2000-2016, através de uma metanálise conduzida pela primeira vez em ferrovias. Para maior robutez, Leave-One-Out-Cross-Validation e Weighted Regression foram utilizadas. Políticas públicas incluindo diversificação e modelos de avaliação de eficiência por órgãos reguladores foram comentadas. A terceira pesquisa se dedica à eficiência das seções ferroviárias e identifica as condições significativas para cenários de alta e baixa performance através da combinação de Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution e de um algoritmo de evolução diferencial para estimar os pesos de variáveis em cenários otimizados, gap da literatura. Num segundo estágio, a significância de variáveis selecionadas foi avaliada. A pesquisa mostra que o gestor público deve empurrar as empresas para o transporte de todo o tipo de carga, a diversificação de serviços, o controle centralizado da operação e o compartilhamento da via. A competição e a diversificação são significativas para a alta performance

Efficiency determinations of the worldwide railway companies via DEA and contributions of the outputs to the efficiency and TFP by panel regression

This study attempts to obtain efficiency scores of thirty-one railway companies operating worldwide by using data envelopment analysis. To assess the data covering a term from 2000 to 2009, we use CCR and BCC methods. According to the results of the CCR model analysis, 17 firms are found to have technical efficiency in the first year, whereas this figure goes up to 18 companies in the last year. Input oriented and variable return analysis in the concept of the BCC model, the number of the firms found technically efficient at the beginning of the period are 20. At the end of the period, this figure is up to 24. We implement panel regression analysis to estimate the effects of the companies' output on their efficiency. Results imply that CCR models provide us more meaningful explanations. Malmquist Index analysis also indicates that total factor productivity increases by 0.03 % for the entire period

Transporte ferroviário de cargas e atividade econômica: uma análise a partir dos indicadores de produção, renda e emprego

Freight transportation plays an important role in trade flows between regions and has a network of modes that are divided into road, rail, waterway and air. The consolidation of these modes through public and private investments represents a means of growth and movement of economic activities. The objective of this monograph is to analyze the impacts of rail freight transport on the economy through the use of production, income and employment multipliers. These were calculated based on the 2010 input-output matrix released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and had as an innovation the use of the disaggregated matrix for the freight transport sector, whose work was carried out by the laboratory research group of Territorial and Sectoral Analyzes (LATES). This monograph was based on the methodology of the input-output matrix of Miller and Blair (1985) to characterize intersectorial relations and measure the impacts that the variation in final demand has on production, income and employment from the perspective of a matrix. The main results achieved projected that for rail freight transport, the increase of an additional monetary unit requires a multiplier effect of 1.98 for production, creation of 23.81 jobs and growth of 0.36 in income. The analyzes carried out on the multipliers seek to contribute to ongoing discussions and debates on the expansion of the railway network and to guide the formation of policies.O transporte de cargas desempenha uma função importante nos fluxos de comércio entre as regiões e conta com uma rede de modais que são divididos em rodoviário, ferroviário, aquaviário e aéreo. A consolidação desses modais através de investimentos públicos e privados representa um meio de crescimento e movimentação das atividades econômicas. O objetivo dessa monografia é analisar os impactos do transporte ferroviário de cargas sobre a economia por meio da utilização de multiplicadores de produção, renda e emprego. Esses foram calculados com base na matriz de insumo-produto de 2010 divulgada pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) e teve como inovação a utilização da matriz desagregada para o setor de transporte de carga, cujo trabalho foi realizado pelo grupo de pesquisa Laboratório de Análises Territoriais e Setoriais (LATES). A presente monografia se apoiou na metodologia de insumo-produto de Miller e Blair (1985) para caracterizar as relações intersetoriais e mensurar os impactos que a variação na demanda final exerce sobre a produção, renda e emprego sob a ótica de uma matriz. Os principais resultados alcançados projetaram que para o transporte ferroviário de cargas o incremento de uma unidade monetária adicional exige um efeito multiplicador de 1,98 para a produção, criação de 23,81 postos de trabalho e crescimento de 0,36 de renda. As análises realizadas sobre os multiplicadores buscam contribuir para as discussões e debates em curso sobre a ampliação da malha ferroviária e direcionar na formação de políticas

Malaysian bilateral trade relations and economic growth

This paper examines the structure and trends of Malaysian bilateral exports and imports and then investigates whether these bilateral exports and imports have caused Malaysian economic growth. Although the structure of Malaysia’s trade has changed quite significantly over the last three decades, the direction of Malaysia’s trade remains generally the same. Broadly, ASEAN, the EU, East Asia, the US and Japan continue to be the Malaysia’s major trading partners. The Granger causality tests have shown that it is the bilateral imports that have caused economic growth in Malaysia rather than the bilateral exports

Exchange rate misalignments in ASEAN-5 countries

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the exchange rate misalignments for Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand before the currency crisis. By employing the sticky-price monetary exchange rate model in the environment of vector error-correction, the results indicate that the Indonesia rupiah, Malaysian ringgit, Philippines peso and Singapore dollar were overvalued before the currency crisis while Thai baht was undervalued on the eve of the crisis. However, they suffered modest misalignment. Therefore, little evidence of exchange misalignment is found to exist in 1997:2. In particular, Indonesia rupiah, Malaysia ringgit, Philippines peso and Singapore dollar were only overvalued about 1 to 4 percent against US dollar while the Thai baht was only 2 percent undervalued against US dollar

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen

Federal Register

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii