Maria Cieśla

Influence of a Potential Railway Line Connecting the Caspian Sea with the Black Sea on the Development of Eurasian Trade

This article deals with the current state of the transport of goods on East West routes. It presents currently available options of carriage with mentioning the barriers and problems associated with the increasing Eurasian trade of goods carried along these corridors. Special attention was focused on costs and time analysis of exemplary freight of 40-feet container from China to Poland using alternative routes. It is determined that there are alternative possibilities that also include waterways. The main aim of this article is to present the potential demand related to the TRACECA major traffic flows passing through a corridor formed on one hand, in Western and Central Europe, and on the other in Central and East Asia. As one of these possibilities a TRACECA corridor with the railway Baku-Tbilisi-Kars is considered together with SWOT analysis based on experts’ knowledge. The benefits of intermodal transport are obvious so the introduction of railway line connecting two seas, the Caspian Sea with the Black Sea, seems to be the crucial element in the cheapest solution.

Analysis and Development Perspective Scenarios of Transport Corridors Supporting Eurasian Trade

The chapter deals with freight transport between Europe and Asia, supporting intercontinental exchange of goods. So first the impact of Eurasian trade on transport and logistics branch is presented. The analysis is focused on position of European Union in global trade, especially with China and its influence on the increase of services for logistics operators. In another part of the chapter analysis of transport corridors between Europe and Asia are presented. Then, the paper focuses on future development of Eurasian transport corridors. The research objective of this chapter was to prepare strategic analysis of future transport development in Eurasian region. Eurasian transport network SWOT analysis is shown and scenario building based on STEEPLE environmental analysis. The purpose of the scenario analysis was to acquire knowledge in order to rationalize future decisions in strategy building for the investments and research connected with the topic.

Assessment of Polish Railway Infrastructure and the Use of Artificial Intelligence Methods for Prediction of Its Further Development

The aim of this chapter is to analyze economic trends in rail freight volume in Poland, based on the analysis of data from the years 2009–2013, for evaluating decisions on planned investments in railway infrastructure envisioned by Poland and the EU at the time the EU was founded. The theoretical analysis presents a trend of functional Polish railways and its impact on investment decisions. In addition, it shows the long-term plans for railway transport in Poland from both the Polish government and the EU perspectives. An analysis of the current investment to support the development of railways in Poland is also elaborated. The research part of the chapter presents an analysis of statistical data on rail freight. Forecasts are precisely presented of selected transport parameters made by the Bayesian network method and Holt-Winters double exponential smoothing using an artificial immune system to determine parameters and initial conditions.