Marjan Sternad

Estimating marginal infrastructure cost in new infrastructure charging model

Competitiveness of rail transport compared to road transport has been reducing, especially on regional railway lines. To improve this situation, the EU adopted various directives and regulations to increase efficiency of railway undertakings. In this paper we present an organizational and economic model based on European policies for local railway system. The organizational model is based on multi-criteria decision analysis. For the economic model we used an econometric approach to estimate the cost function and marginal costs in regional lines, which constitute the basis for railway charges. By implementing such an organizational model, the functioning of the railway network will improve. The research found that a change in the existing model of calculating costs of infrastructure use would bring economic effects for the railway infrastructure manager and the providers of transport. Using the proposed model we also found that it is reasonable to increase the flow of goods on unused regional railway lines because the railway infrastructure maintenance costs are inelastic with regard to transported gross tons.

International comparison of import and export efficiency of transport services

Services are a sector that is increasing in importance, especially in comparison to traditional production. Due to the unstoppable trends of globalisation and production activities relocating to countries with lower production costs, transport services are becoming increasingly important. Thus, the export and import of these services are analysed in this paper. The comparative strengths of selected countries based on their transport services transactions are calculated using indexes such as RCA and RCA 2. In this regard, Slovenia, a small and open economy, was selected as a base country. Import and export profiles for Slovenia in the field of transport in relation to ten other EU countries are presented, and comparative advantages of the selected countries are assessed. The main findings show that the largest EU economies do not achieve comparative advantages in the transport sector. As for Slovenia, it has achieved a comparative advantage as measured by the RCA index in comparison with the other ten EU countries.

DESIGNING A STRATEGIC MOBILITY PLAN FOR A SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED CITIES USING A MULTI-STAGE METHODOLOGY: CASE OF CELJE

Urban mobility is one of the crucial factors of quality of life in cities. Therefore, an effective mobility system and its holistic planning are of utmost importance for sustainable and quality development of urban centres. This paper focuses on holistic and integrated strategic planning of a mobility system. The used multi % step methodology was tested on a case of a city of Celje, Slovenia. With the first round of focus groups, information about the specific urban mobility system was gathered which was used to develop a SWOT matrix. This was the foundation for the execution of a second round of focus groups, where the output was a proposition for a strategic plan for mobility development in small and medium sized cities.

Supporting changes in the Slovenian wood sector by introducing timber logistics centres

The paper focuses on the potential of introducing timber logistics centres in Slovenia as a starting point towards external integration of mostly smaller organisations in the Slovenian wood sector. Based on the countrys potential for wood and timber production, this industry should be one of the strongest in the primary sector; however, experience from the last decade points to a decrease in activity. By offering the organisations in question the means of introducing new business models, a synergy can be achieved which can result in improved business operations in all participating organisations. The conducted research on organisations in the logging and wood product production industries demonstrates that an organisations profile influences its interest in external integration into the timber logistics centre, while the wood and timber products it makes does not have such an influence. Additionally, findings show that younger and smaller organisations are more inclined and prepared to change their business models to incorporate external integration than larger, longer established organisations in the forestry industry.