Air transport and high-speed rail competition: Environmental implications and mitigation strategies

The authors build a duopoly model to shed light on the environmental impact of high speed rail (HSR)-air transport competition, capturing the effects of induced demand, schedule frequency and HSR speed. The net environmental effect can be negative since there is a the trade-off between the substitution effect – how many passengers using the HSR are shifted from air transport – and the traffic generation effect – how much new demand is generated by the HSR. The authors conduct a simulation study based on the London-Paris market where HSR has served 70% of the market. The introduction of HSR is detrimental to LAP, while it is beneficial to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. HSR entry increases neither local air pollution (LAP) nor GHG emissions when the ratio between HSR and air transport emissions is relatively low. Moreover, competition is more likely to be detrimental to the environment when the weight of the social welfare in HSR objective function is high. Since the magnitude of the environmental friendliness of HSR compared to air transport hinges on the mix of energy sources used to generate the electricity (which is heavily constrained by the country in which HSR operates), regulators should assess the implications of HSR entry taking into account the energy policy and mitigation strategies available to transport modes

Would competition between air transport and high-speed rail benefit environment and social welfare?

We develop a duopoly model to analyze the impact of air transport and high-speed rail (HSR) competition on the environment and social welfare. We show that the introduction of HSR may have a net negative effect on the environment, since it may result in additional demand, i.e., there is a trade-off between the substitution effect and the traffic generation effect. Furthermore, if environmental externalities are taken into account when assessing social welfare, the surplus measure may be higher when only air transport serves the market than when the two modes compete. When the airline and the HSR operator decide frequencies, the airline reduces the aircraft size in order to keep load factors high while offering lower frequency and carrying fewer passengers. In these circumstances, the introduction of HSR may be beneficial to the environment on a per seat basis only if the market size is large enough. When the HSR operator decides speed, it has incentive to keep it at the maximum level in order to reduce travel time. When the increase in the emissions of HSR due to the increase in the speed of the train is sufficiently high, the overall level of emissions grows after the introduction of HSR. Therefore, there can be a trade-off between the attractiveness of the service due to reduced travel time and the effects on the environment

Competition and efficiency in the Italian airport system: New insights from a conditional nonparametric frontier analysis

We analyse the effect of competition on technical efficiency of Italian airports by applying a novel conditional nonparametric frontier analysis for the first time to the airport industry. We find that competition affects mostly the frontier of best performers, whilst airports that are lagging behind are less influenced. A novel two stage approach shows that, on average, competition has a negative impact on technical efficiency. We estimate a measure of pure efficiency, whitened from the main effect of the competition, whose distribution has a bi-modal shape, indicating the existence of two differently managed groups of airports

Strategic formation and welfare effects of airline-high speed rail agreements

Policy makers encourage airline-high speed rail (HSR) cooperation to promote intermodal passenger transport. We study the strategic formation of airline-HSR partnerships (depending on sunk costs and firms’ bargaining power) and their effects on consumer surplus and social welfare. We assume that airline-HSR agreements serve to offer a bundle of domestic HSR and international air services. In a capacity purchase (CP) agreement, the airline buys train seats to sell the bundle, whereas in a joint venture (JV) agreement firms create a distinct business unit. We find that both agreements increase traffic in the network, and thereby may not reduce congestion at hub airports. We provide antitrust authorities with a simple two-tier test for the CP agreement to improve consumer surplus. Contrary to airline-HSR mergers, the JV agreement benefits consumers independent of hub congestion and mode substitution. Simulation results show that, in case of cooperation, public agencies should prefer firms to create a JV, unless the related sunk costs are far greater than the costs of the CP agreement

Association of Variants in the SPTLC1 Gene With Juvenile Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Importance: Juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare form of ALS characterized by age of symptom onset less than 25 years and a variable presentation.Objective: To identify the genetic variants associated with juvenile ALS.Design, Setting, and Participants: In this multicenter family-based genetic study, trio whole-exome sequencing was performed to identify the disease-associated gene in a case series of unrelated patients diagnosed with juvenile ALS and severe growth retardation. The patients and their family members were enrolled at academic hospitals and a government research facility between March 1, 2016, and March 13, 2020, and were observed until October 1, 2020. Whole-exome sequencing was also performed in a series of patients with juvenile ALS. A total of 66 patients with juvenile ALS and 6258 adult patients with ALS participated in the study. Patients were selected for the study based on their diagnosis, and all eligible participants were enrolled in the study. None of the participants had a family history of neurological disorders, suggesting de novo variants as the underlying genetic mechanism.Main Outcomes and Measures: De novo variants present only in the index case and not in unaffected family members.Results: Trio whole-exome sequencing was performed in 3 patients diagnosed with juvenile ALS and their parents. An additional 63 patients with juvenile ALS and 6258 adult patients with ALS were subsequently screened for variants in the SPTLC1 gene. De novo variants in SPTLC1 (p.Ala20Ser in 2 patients and p.Ser331Tyr in 1 patient) were identified in 3 unrelated patients diagnosed with juvenile ALS and failure to thrive. A fourth variant (p.Leu39del) was identified in a patient with juvenile ALS where parental DNA was unavailable. Variants in this gene have been previously shown to be associated with autosomal-dominant hereditary sensory autonomic neuropathy, type 1A, by disrupting an essential enzyme complex in the sphingolipid synthesis pathway.Conclusions and Relevance: These data broaden the phenotype associated with SPTLC1 and suggest that patients presenting with juvenile ALS should be screened for variants in this gene.</p

TEE Mobility Grant–Transatlantic Partnership for Excellence in Engineering

TEE (Transatlantic Partnership for Excellence in Engineering) is an Erasmus Mundus-Action 2 Project funded by the European Commission. The main objective of the TEE Partnership is to encourage structured cooperation between European, US and Canadian Higher Education Institutions. To achieve this goal, TEE offers a mobility scheme for doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers and academic staff: Partnership members European Partners: Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) - UPV (Coordinator) Universiteit Gent (Belgium) - UGENT University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) - CAM Università degli Studi di Roma «La Sapienza» (Italy) - UNIROMA Technische Universität Berlin (Germany) - TUB Université Paris-Sud 11 (France) - UPSUD USA/Canadian Partners: North Carolina State University - College of Engineering (United States of America) - NCSU University of Pennsylvania - School of Engineering and Applied Science (United States of America) - PENNSEAS University of California-Davis (United States of America) - UCDAVIS University of British Columbia (Canada) - UBC McGill University - Faculty of Engineering (Canada) - MCGIL

Airlines-High Speed Rail cooperation and competition

“Progetto di avvio alla ricerca” C26N1339H