IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v104y2022ics0966692322001715.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional resilience for rail freight transport

Author

Listed:
  • Potter, Andrew
  • Soroka, Anthony
  • Naim, Mohamed

Abstract

This paper applies the concept of resilience to the rail freight industry, taking a regional perspective and considering the disturbances that have affected demand over a six year period from 2015 to 2021. This contrasts with many existing studies relating to rail freight which look at managerial factors or only consider short term disruptions. To overcome issues with data availability, four sample weeks were surveyed using online data sources, supplemented by secondary sources. Using the Cardiff Capital Region in Great Britain as an example, we show how the rail freight industry is particularly affected by disturbances in other sectors, due to the connecting role it plays, but also that some new growth paths have emerged. The number of trains operated decreased by 30% over the six year period, with significant declines in coal and automotive traffic following the closure of sources for freight. By contrast, intermodal has seen growth, due to wider economic conditions as well as policy disturbances. The study builds on existing rail freight research, the resilience perspective effectively highlighting that external disturbances affect demand over the long term. Such insights are valuable for regional transport policy makers, who often lack awareness of freight and logistics, as well as practitioners in engaging with regional bodies.

Suggested Citation

  • Potter, Andrew & Soroka, Anthony & Naim, Mohamed, 2022. "Regional resilience for rail freight transport," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:104:y:2022:i:c:s0966692322001715
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103448
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692322001715
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103448?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sam McLeod & Carey Curtis, 2020. "Understanding and Planning for Freight Movement in Cities: Practices and Challenges," Planning Practice & Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 201-219, March.
    2. Woodburn, Allan, 2019. "Rail network resilience and operational responsiveness during unplanned disruption: A rail freight case study," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 59-69.
    3. Ron Martin, 2012. "Regional economic resilience, hysteresis and recessionary shocks," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 1-32, January.
    4. Ron Boschma, 2015. "Towards an Evolutionary Perspective on Regional Resilience," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 733-751, May.
    5. Gillian Bristow & Adrian Healy, 2014. "Regional Resilience: An Agency Perspective," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 923-935, May.
    6. Ballantyne, Erica E.F. & Lindholm, Maria & Whiteing, Anthony, 2013. "A comparative study of urban freight transport planning: addressing stakeholder needs," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 93-101.
    7. Anthony Soroka & Gillian Bristow & Mohamed Naim & Laura Purvis, 2020. "Measuring regional business resilience," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(6), pages 838-850, June.
    8. Ties Vanthillo & Jeroen Cant & Thierry Vanelslander & Ann Verhetsel, 2018. "Understanding evolution in the Antwerp chemical cluster: the role of regional development strategies," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(8), pages 1519-1536, August.
    9. Lichun Chen & Elise Miller-Hooks, 2012. "Resilience: An Indicator of Recovery Capability in Intermodal Freight Transport," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(1), pages 109-123, February.
    10. Heitz, Adeline & Dablanc, Laetitia & Olsson, Jerry & Sanchez-Diaz, Ivan & Woxenius, Johan, 2020. "Spatial patterns of logistics facilities in Gothenburg, Sweden," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    11. Gillian Bristow & Adrian Healy, 2018. "Innovation and regional economic resilience: an exploratory analysis," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(2), pages 265-284, March.
    12. Mary Genevieve Billington & James Karlsen & Line Mathisen & Inger Beate Pettersen, 2017. "Unfolding the relationship between resilient firms and the region," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 425-442, March.
    13. Alex Luscombe & Kevin Dick & Kevin Walby, 2022. "Algorithmic thinking in the public interest: navigating technical, legal, and ethical hurdles to web scraping in the social sciences," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1023-1044, June.
    14. Dablanc, Laetitia, 2009. "Regional policy issues for rail freight services," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 163-172, August.
    15. Neil M. Coe, 2014. "Missing links: Logistics, governance and upgrading in a shifting global economy," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 224-256, February.
    16. Russ Haywood, 2003. "Evaluation of the policies in British local transport plans with regard to the promotion of rail freight," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 387-412, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Тetiana Kоsova & Serhii Smerichevskyi & Nadiia Antypenko & Oleksii Mykhalchenko & Larіsa Raicheva, 2023. "Innovative and financial modernization of transportation system based on international technology transfer," Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies, PC TECHNOLOGY CENTER, vol. 5(13 (125)), pages 47-56, October.
    2. Elżbieta Szaruga & Elżbieta Załoga & Arkadiusz Drewnowski & Paulina Dąbrosz-Drewnowska, 2023. "Convergence of Energy Intensity of the Export of Goods by Rail Transport: Linkages with the Spatial Integration and Economic Condition of Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-24, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vinko Muštra & Blanka Šimundić & Zvonimir Kuliš, 2020. "Does innovation matter for regional labour resilience? The case of EU regions," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(5), pages 955-970, October.
    2. Huiwen Gong & Robert Hassink & Cassandra Wang, 2021. "Strategic coupling and regional resilience in times of uncertainty: the industrial chain chief model in Zhejiang, China," PEGIS geo-disc-2021_06, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    3. Vitor Klein Schmidt & Aurora Carneiro Zen & Bernardo Fernandes Soares & Bruno Anicet Bittencourt, 2023. "Trajectory and cluster resilience elements: The case of the Brazilian wine cluster of the Serra Gaúcha," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 596-624, June.
    4. Mathieu P A Steijn & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & David L Rigby, 2023. "Technological diversification of U.S. cities during the great historical crises," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(6), pages 1303-1344.
    5. Huiping Wang & Qi Ge, 2023. "Spatial association network of economic resilience and its influencing factors: evidence from 31 Chinese provinces," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Marianne Sensier & Elvira Uyarra, 2020. "Investigating the Governance Mechanisms that Sustain Regional Economic Resilience and Inclusive Growth," Economics Discussion Paper Series 2005, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    7. Kurikka, Heli & Grillitsch, Markus, 2020. "Resilience in the periphery: What an agency perspective can bring to the table," Papers in Innovation Studies 2020/7, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    8. Giulio Cainelli & Roberto Ganau & Marco Modica, 2019. "Does related variety affect regional resilience? New evidence from Italy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 62(3), pages 657-680, June.
    9. Xiaojing Li & Jing Chen, 2023. "Global or Local Spatial Spillovers? Industrial Diversity and Economic Resilience in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Urban Agglomeration, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-17, July.
    10. Liangang Li & Pingyu Zhang & Chengxin Wang, 2022. "What Affects the Economic Resilience of China’s Yellow River Basin Amid Economic Crisis—From the Perspective of Spatial Heterogeneity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-20, July.
    11. Riccardo Cappelli & Fabio Montobbio & Andrea Morrison, 2021. "Unemployment resistance across EU regions: the role of technological and human capital," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 147-178, January.
    12. Pontarollo, Nicola & Serpieri, Carolina, 2020. "A composite policy tool to measure territorial resilience capacity," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Jing Xiao & Ron Boschma & Martin Andersson, 2018. "Resilience in the European Union: the effect of the 2008 crisis on the ability of regions in Europe to develop new industrial specializations," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(1), pages 15-47.
    14. Hasan Engin Duran & Ugo Fratesi, 2023. "Economic resilience and regionally differentiated cycles: Evidence from a turning point approach in Italy," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(2), pages 219-252, April.
    15. Ross Brown & Ronald V Kalafsky & Suzanne Mawson & Lori Davies, 2020. "Shocks, uncertainty and regional resilience: The case of Brexit and Scottish SMEs," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(7), pages 655-675, November.
    16. David Bailey & Lisa de Propris, 2014. "Editorial: Recession, Recovery and Resilience?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(11), pages 1757-1760, November.
    17. O. V. Kuznetsova, 2022. "The Transformation of the Spatial Structure of an Economy in the Crisis and Post-Crisis Periods," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 451-458, December.
    18. Luca Salvati & Margherita Carlucci & Giuseppe Venanzoni, 2017. "Recession, resilience, local labour markets: wealthier is better?," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 177-204, July.
    19. Xiaohui Hu & Chun Yang, 2019. "Institutional change and divergent economic resilience: Path development of two resource-depleted cities in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(16), pages 3466-3485, December.
    20. Xiaohui Hu & Robert Hassink, 2017. "Exploring adaptation and adaptability in uneven economic resilience: a tale of two Chinese mining regions," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 10(3), pages 527-541.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:104:y:2022:i:c:s0966692322001715. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.