Analysis of International Transport Service Development Experience

and Implications for China

Jingling Jiang

Comprehensive transport research center, China Academy of Transportation Sciences, No.240, Chaoyang District, Beijing,

China

Keywords: Integrated transportation services, developed countries, experience, reference.

Abstract:

Chinese Ministry of Transportation is mandated to provide integrated transport services after new round of

super-ministry reform. Building an integrated transportation system is the starting point to make a

breakthrough and fulfill the responsibility. With the gradual deepening of the reform, remarkable results

have been achieved in integrated transportation services in recent years. During the 13th Five-Year Plan

period, the integrated transportation system will put equal emphasis on infrastructure construction and

service development. To meet higher requirements in the new context, an improvement will be made to the

integrated transportation system, which will be a complex and arduous systematic project. This paper

analyzes international advanced experience and summarizes lessons worth reference for China in the

development of integrated transportation services.

1 INTRODUCTION

Transportation is the fundamental service industry

that leads and foreruns national economic and social

development. During the 12th Five-Year Plan

(FYP) period, the sector has accomplished

noticeable achievements, manifested in the

continued improvements in scale, network, function

and service of transportation. As the focus of

development shifts from infrastructure to service,

the transportation sector has entered into a new

stage of network optimization, convergence

improvement and and service integration.

The 13th FYP period is a decisive stage of

building a comprehensive well-off society and a

critical period for deepening the four-pronged

comprehensive strategy. It provides a major

strategic opportunity to promote green, integrated,

smart and safe transportation and let it lead national

development. The reform and development of the

transportation sector starts from and places foothold

on service for which an integrated transportation

system is fundamentally built. Improving integrated

transportation services has become important

content of transportation development in the new

stage, in order to meet the increasingly diversified

travel demand, improve the transportation

efficiency and reduce the logistics cost. The

developed European countries and the United States

have achieved coordinated development and

organic convergence of a variety of modes of

transportation after years of efforts. The significant

improvements in both level and efficiency of

integrated transportation services provide a strong

guarantee for their economic and social

development. The rich successful experience,

particularly of the United States, European Union

and Germany, can be used as reference by China to

develop integrated transport services.

2 INTERNATIONAL

EXPERIENCE

2.1 United States

Legislation on integrated transportation. The

Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act

of 1991 (ISTEA, nicknamed Ice-Tea) declares it is a

US policy to "develop a national intermodal

transportation system that is economically efficient

and environmentally sound, provides the foundation

for the nation to compete in the global economy,

and will move people and goods in an energy

efficient manner". The continuation act adopted in

Jiang, J.

Analysis of International Transport Service Development Experience and Implications for China.

In 3rd International Conference on Electromechanical Control Technology and Transportation (ICECTT 2018), pages 351-357

ISBN: 978-989-758-312-4

351

1998 further extends and deepens the policy. The

Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century

(TEA-21) in 2000 aims to coordinate the

development of various modes of transportation.

The US transportation legislation is an open

democratic process, particularly in view of public

participation and different stakeholders, as shown in

Figure 1.

Figure 1. Diagram of the legislative process of the US

Congress

Plans for integrated transportation. The US

Department of Transportation (DOT) develops a

comprehensive transportation strategic plan every

five years to clarify the mission, goals and

objectives of transportation development.

According the DOT Strategic Plan 2012-2016:

Transportation for a New Generation released in

2013, the country pursues five strategic goals:

safety state of good repair, economic

competitiveness, livable communities and

environmental sustainability. The unchanged core

of the US transportation services is safety,

convenience and sustainability. For each of the

strategic goal, the plan set out strategic measures

and focus areas, proposed research and engineering

projects and careful and meticulous project support,

and clarified the budget, as shown in Figure. 2.

Figure 2 Proportion of budget for each strategic goal

Special programs. The special action plans

inject an important impetus to the development of

integrated transportation in Europe and the United

States. Following the Ice-Tea, the US Government

arranged $ 155.3 billion for the development of

intermodal transportation during 1992-1997 and

implemented the Alameda Corridor Plan to improve

the marine and rail transportation in the Ports of Los

Angeles and Long Beach. The City of Los Angeles

began to invest $ 1.8 billion in 1996 to transform

the 20-mile railroad expressline from the harbor to

the downtown Los Angeles. After the

transformation, the intersection-related delay of

trains was reduced by 90%, noise by 90%,

emissions by 28%, running time by 30%, waiting

time by 75%, while the revenue is estimated to

grow by US $ 31.9 billion by 2020. The Alameda

Corridor is considered one of the most important

transportation projects in the recent 20 years and a

representative example of marine and rail

transportation in the country.

Financial support. After the implementation of

the Ice-Tea, the US Government arranged US $

155.3 billion in fiscal years 1992-1997 for the

development of intermodal freight and passenger

transportation systems. TEA-21 guarantees an

investment of at least $ 198 billion in surface

transportation during 1998-2003, increasing the

total appropriations for highways and safe and

public transportation to $ 218 billion(Rong, 2005).

Enhanced management of integrated

transportation. The United States has established a

robust management system that matches with the

integrated transportation system. At the national

level, the management involves multiple

government departments and even

non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These

coordinated agencies play different roles in system

management and policy formulation, as shown in

Figure 3.

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Figure 3 Functional departments for integrated

transportation system management

In addition to the permanent specialized

agencies, DOT is also flexible to set up

cross-sectoral agencies. These non-permanent

agencies are often aimed at the objectives of the US

transportation strategies or authorization acts, such

as transportation safety, intermodal convergence,

improved competitiveness of freight economy,

internal and external work coordination, and

provision of advice on policy development to the

department.

2.2 European Union

Implementation ensured legislation.

Transportation plans and the accompanying budgets

come into legal force in the European Union only

after a variety of legislative procedures. They need

to be proposed by the Department of Mobility and

Transport of the European Commission and

submitted to the European Parliament for approval.

The amendments also require the same legislative

process. The products of such legislative procedures

include the Seven-year Development Plan,

Long-term (50-year) Strategic Plan for

Transportation, Trans-European Transport Network,

European Transport Policy for 2010: Time to

Decide (White Paper), Roadmap to a Single

European Transport Area – Towards a Competitive

and Resource Efficient Transport System. The

legislative procedures and levels ensure the

implementation of plans, standards and budgets and

effectively avoid the flip-flop phenomenon.

Integrated transportation standards. EU

countries have developed three standardized loading

units for intermodal transportation, namely

containers, semi-trailers and swap bodies. While

containers follow the ISO-Container standards,

semi-trailers and swap bodies are subject to the

unified standards of dimensions, weights and axle

load set by European Committee for

Standardization. The European Modular System

(EMS) has been designed to standardize the

development of truck models and effectively

promote transnational intermodal transportation

within Europe.

Special programs. In 2003, the European

Union began to implement the Marco Polo program

that adjusts the freight transportation structure to

intermodal transportation. In 2007, the Freight

Transportation Logistics Action Plan and the

Intermodal Transportation Pilot Project were carried

out to promote intelligent transportation system and

standardized transportation units and support

intermodal transportation networks. By the end of

2010, the Marco Polo Program has produced

remarkable effects on a switch of the modes of

transportation by funding more than 150 projects, of

which 83% involve the change in modes of

transportation. Recognizing the environmental

benefits of rail and water transportation, it is the

most direct and effective initiative to promote the

EU development of intermodal transportation.

Subsidies or tax exemptions. Enterprises are

compensated for the economic losses with the

switch to intermodal freight transportation. For

example, the EU will provide economic

compensation to a newly open rail line if the

liability operation is confirmed. In order to reduce

long-distance transportation and increase

short-distance feeder service, the EU member states

are required to provide tax exemptions or financial

subsidies to trucks for access to multimodal

transportation. For example, the German law

exempt certain vehicles from highway use tax.

2.3 United Kingdom

Regularly renewed transportation acts. The United

Kingdom develops and amends the transportation

acts every 5-10 years in order to ensure

applicability. To date, there are Transport Act 1962,

Transport Act 1968, Transport Act 1980, Transport

Act 1985, Transport Act 2000 and Local Transport

Act 2008.

Local independence and autonomy in

transportation planning. The UK Department of

Transport authorizes the local agencies to

independently screen and sort the transportation

plans for the administrative region. The

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independence and authority shall not undermine the

consistency with the strategic deployment of

national integrated transportation plan. The UK

Central Government guides local transportation

planning agencies through regulations and manuals

on transportation environmental assessment and

multi-objective transportation project evaluation.

Local transportation planning agencies are

responsible for assessing urban transportation

projects.

Enterprise management of the government

and implementing agencies. Through a series of

governance innovation from 1980 onwards,

entrepreneurship has been introduced into the public

sector and some public affairs can be contracted to

private companies. In terms of highway, the

business related to technology and production is

generally carried out by the private sector, covering

highway planning, design, supervision and

construction, as well as information collection and

distribution, technical management and

maintenance production. Many transportation

policy studies are also undertaken by private

companies (such as transportation diversity research

by Mott MacDonald). SERCO operates on behalf of

Highways England the National Traffic Control

Centre which provides real-time highway

information and vehicle guideline, scheduling and

control.

2.4 Germany

Joint intermodal transportation services.

Frankfurt Airport integrates highways, regional

railways and high-speed railways for surface

transportation, making it very convenient for

passengers to transfer between railway and airplane.

The air and rail transportation infrastructure that

were basically completed in 1995 enable direct

access to the airport from all the southern cities and

northern lines through Hanover and Hamburg and

lay the foundation for easy transfer at the airport.

The German Federal Railway Authority has set up

the airport codes of the international air

transportation system for major railway stations.

Airlines can select a number of trains and railway

stations to share codes. The practice significantly

increases the total traffic and consolidates the

hinterland of airports (Rong, 2005). Through the

provision of air and rail intermodal transportation

services, Frankfurt Airport has strengthened the

pivotal function and enhanced the competitiveness

with secured hinterland and market resources, and

further contributed to the regional transportation

integration.

Favorable integrated transportation policy.

To accommodate and encourage the development of

intermodal transportation, the German Government

adopts a special treatment policy for trucks involved

in intermodal transportation services, including

increased weight limit from 40 tons to 44 tons and

lifted weekend transportation ban for trucks

engaged in intermodal transportation services and

exemption from € 1,500 highway use tax for trucks

dedicated to intermodal transportation services.

2.5 Australia

Philosophy of integrated management. In

1987, Australia built the Department of Transport

and Communications on the department of transport

and the department of aviation and

communications, making a transition from

dispersed management to centralized management.

Government departments thereafter provide unified

management of transportation services and

integrated management and coordination for all

modes of transportation, which ensures effective

national macro-control. Later, the department was

re-organized to the Department of Transport and

Regional Services. In November 2007, the

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional

Development and Local Government was

established to put more emphasis on transportation

infrastructure construction, regional economic

development and local government coordination

and management while bearing the existing

functions. On September 18, 2013, the Department

of Infrastructure and egional Development formed

by way of an Administrative Arrangements Order

issued on 18 September 2013 and performs

functions in infrastructure, transportation and

regional development, including the majority of the

functions previously performed by the former

Department of Infrastructure and Transport. The

institutional integration and functional division in

the transportation sector shows that the Government

always bears in mind the philosophy of integrated

management in the overall planning and systemic

management of different modes of transportation.

Integrated transportation laws and

regulations. The Australian integrated

transportation system covers a wide range of laws,

such as finance, operation, management and

supervision. The highly refined legal provisions,

which stipulate such general issues as the state and

federal government coordination and such specific

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issues as data collection and transportation

investigation, provide a legal basis for effective

integrated transportation services.

Participation of NGOs and private

enterprises. The private sector and NGOs actively

participate in integrated transportation services.

NGOs are also involved in the development of

policies and industry standards by the Department

of Infrastructure and Regional Development.

3 IMPLICATIONS FOR CHINA

After years of efforts, the European Union and the

United States have moved towards intermodal

transportation with coordinated development and

organic convergence. The significant improvements

in the level and efficiency of transportation services

provide a strong guarantee for economic and social

development. Their practices are worth reference,

summarized as follows:

3.1 Establish legislation

Taking into account economic development

requirements and resource and environmental

constraints, developed countries work out the core

policy of integrated transportation development and

upgrade it to national strategy through legislation.

The the legislative height not only protects policy

independence from alternate political parties and

policy consistency from "flip-flop", but also ensures

appropriate policy implementation(Wu, 2011). In

short, the important legislative status, clear

development direction and system continuity are

prerequisites for integrated transportation

development in developed countries. In view of the

long-term independent development, system and

policy for highway, railway and civil aviation and

the lack of coordination between different modes of

transportation, China also needs to clearly define

and explicitly interpret the core objectives, rights

and responsibilities, and priorities of integrated

transportation development within the legal

framework, in order to minimize the exclusion and

friction between entities and maximize the

efficiency of administration. In addition, the

coordination between different transportation laws

and the balance of rights and responsibilities of

enterprises in the transportation business chain are

also important.

3.2 Develop guiding plans

The United States and the EU countries have

released integrated transportation strategic plans to

clarify the strategic mission, objectives and steps

(Sufian, 2005). In China, the super-ministry

management system integration takes time due to

long-term block management. The transportation

sector basically shows vertical strip development of

different modes of transportation, regardless of

planning, construction, equipment configuration,

operation and management. The development plans,

station construction and line layout for highway,

waterway, railway and civil aviation are

independent of each other. There are also problems

of inadequate overall consideration of limited land

and line resources, inefficient utilization of

resources and redundant construction. It is

necessary to develop plans and let them guide

integrated transportation development. The plans

should set forth the long-term strategic objectives,

near-term tasks, and strategic measures and focus

areas, and propose research and engineering

projects and project support to ensure the realization

of strategic objectives.

3.3 Beef up standards as the cornerstone

Standardization lays an important technical

foundation for production, operation and

coordinated development of various modes of

transportation. Unified standards serve as an

underlying cornerstone of integrated transportation

development, such as in the European Union. China

has formed a distinct, comprehensive standard

system and set up specialized technical

organizations for standardization, covering such

fields of transportation as railways, highways,

waterways, civil aviation and postal services.

However, the technical standards developed

independently by ministries(Luo, 2004), such as

Chinese Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of

Industry and Information Technology, do not

coverage well. The standards for intermodal

transportation coordination remain very limited.

Formulating and amending standards is an effective

move to speed up the construction of an integrated

transportation system and enhance the energy

efficiency of integrated transportation. Therefore,

China needs to strengthen the research and

formulation of integrated transportation standards

and elevate industry-specific technical committees

for transportation standardization to the national

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level to meet the multi-party needs of

standardization.

3.4 Push ahead with special programs

In Europe and the United States, special programs

serve as an important driving force for integrated

transportation development. They have presented

remarkable performance in combination efficiency,

logistics costs, energy conservation and emission

reduction while giving full play to the overall

advantages of various modes of transportation. In

recent years, the Chinese Ministry of Transport has

embarked on the demonstration for integrated

transportation services and basically achieved

"initial breakthroughs, practicable measures and

apparent effects". A total of 16 model cities for

integrated transportation services and 16

demonstration projects for intermodal freight

transportation have been identified (Chen, 2012).

Further, demonstration performance follow-up and

evaluation are carried out in a timely manner, in

order to optimize the special programs and advance

the integrated transportation system.

3.5 Provide policy guidance

The integrated transportation development in

developed countries such as Europe and the United

States is inseparable from high government

attention and strong policy guidance. In particular,

integrated transportation services involve not only

business operators, but also government

departments in charge of transportation,

development and reform, industry and information

technology, finance, land resources, customs,

taxation and quality inspection. They are a

systematic project that includes infrastructure,

equipment and technology, organization and

service, and information. Drawing on the

experience, China should provide guidance for

diversified investment and financing channels,

formulate research-based policies on project

planning, land use and capital investment, and

introduce incentives such as subsidies or tax breaks

for enterprises and relaxed business restrictions.

3.6 Strengthen guaranteeing

management

In addition to an advanced integrated transportation

system, a relatively perfect management system is

also important to the development of integrated

transportation services in developed countries. In

China, the "super transportation" pattern at the

national level has been formed and coordinated by

the Chinese Ministry of Transportation. At the local

level, however, the "super transportation" system

remains absent in the majority of provinces and

cities and the division of functions and

responsibilities are to clarify for integrated

transportation. While an integrated transportation

management system is yet to establish as a unified

organic whole, the existing management systems

for different modes of transportation fail to ensure

close contact and coordination and effectively

integrate departmental functions. China should

strengthen the integrated transportation

management system by setting up the general office

and cross-departmental coordination agencies in

accordance with the functional division, but also

"super transportation agencies" for specialized

industrial management according to modes of

transportation.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Integrated transportation is instrumentally effective

to improve the efficiency of transportation portfolio

and technically fundamental to industrial upgrading

for better quality and efficiency. It is considered an

inevitable option that supports the national strategy

and develops transportation at the current stage. The

advancement of an integrated transportation system

should be start from and put the foothold on service

capacity building. The paper summarizes the

implications for domestic integrated transportation

development based on analysis of the experience of

typical countries, such as the United States,

European Union, United Kingdom, Germany and

Australia. The lessons drawn are of theoretical

value and practical significance by supporting

management decisions and promoting integrated

transportation.

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