B028537 - TECHNIQUE AND ECONOMY OF TRANSPORTS

Italian with a few seminars held by foreign experts in English

Transport policy and economics
Vehicles and their motion
Transport systems
Transport planning

Main textbook:
Ricci S. (2011) Tecnica ed Economia dei Trasporti. Hoepli, Milano.
For some details
Cantarella G.E. (a cura di) (2007) Sistemi di Trasporto: Tecnica ed Economia. UTET, Torino.
Cascetta E. (2009) Transportation Systems Analysis. Models and Applications. Second Edition. Springer, New York.
Ortúzar J. de D., Willumsen L.G. (2011) Modelling Transport. Fourth Edition. Wiley, Chichester, UK.

Knowledge and understanding
Students learn the importance of mobility and transport on the society and that of policies and measures on behavioral choices, transport, its economics and its sustainability.
Applying knowledge and understanding.
At the end of the course students will possess the basic tools to plan and manage mobility and transport systems they will be able to evaluate impacts of policies and project choices. Students will know the conventional and innovative technologies and will be able to use as beginners the main transport planning software at micro and macro levels. They will be able to handle Cost Benefit Analysis evaluations to assess different project solutions for mobility problems.
Making judgements
Students will acquire the basic knowledge of macroeconomics and its links with society and transport intensity. They will understand the effects of policies and technical measures. They will be able to form their own informed judgment on policy and technical choices based on technical and scientific measurable facts.
Communication skills
The course teaches students the basic written skills to draft technical proposals and reports which are the beginning of the engineering professional language and communication skills.
Learning skills
The course is the first on transport matters and gives students the basic tools to learn to learn. They will then have the opportunity to study further the transport planning, economics and policies as well as transport systems management and operation because they will know the language and be able to build on it

Basic knowledge of physics and mathematics are the only necessary prerequisites

The course foresees lectures and practice. It is organized in 4 parts and each has an initial lecturing part followed by exercises done in class (mostly) to practice the knowledge acquired.
Foreign experts are often invited to give specific lectures.

Students will be received during and after the course completion for explanations and to review proposals and reports only upon appointment to be agreed through e-mail exchange

The final exam will be oral. It will start from the discussion of the technical report drafted by the student and then will cover the course

Transport Policy and Economics
Macroeconomic basic knowledge and dependence of transport form macroeconomics indicators
Transport microeconomics
Transport impacts and externalities
How lowering transport impacts
The Transport policies in Europe
Evaluating transport choices
Vehicles and their motion
Road vehicles
mechanics,
performances,
energy consumption,
noxious emissions
Rail rolling stock
mechanics,
performances,
energy consumption,
noxious emissions
Transport systems
road transport
gap
flow
traffic
infrastructure capacity
Rail transport
gap
signaling
timetable
capacity
Transport planning
Planning for the different time horizons and norms
Zoning and Origin-Destination matrix building
The road network graph and transport supply
The four steps model
Demand generation and attraction models
Distribution models (Gravity models)
Modal choice models
Traffic assignment models.
Freight transport and its differences from passengers