Methods for calculation of expenses for ensuring traffic safety

Abstract

European Union directions pay a specific focus on traffic safety. Safety of railway transport traffic is among priority fields, which has a direct effect on the quality of life of the population. The technical condition of every element of infrastructure and the entire system highly depends on the existing technical state, maintenance and diagnostics. A set of methods proposed for assessing the technical condition of infrastructure elements relies on the relative indicator of infrastructure reliability Ds. It allows calculating all investments needed for infrastructure maintenance to enhance traffic safety. Based on analysis of traffic incidents (accidents and breaks) that have occurred in railway lines in Lithuania during the past 6 years due to unsatisfactory technical condition of infrastructure and its elements, 5 groups of relative indicator of infrastructure reliability are determined. The proposed methods are simple and allow classifying the spending, which is needed for infrastructure maintenance to enhance traffic safety, by category and class of railway lines. The expenses were calculated for all railway lines of Lithuania. The need for investments proposed for reconstruction of the entire Lithuanian railway network to reach maximum traffic safety is Dsmax = 9-10. In the plan for modernization of the rolling-stock depot, more than 90 % of investments are intended to three main points: acquisition of new cargo trains, development of rollingstock diagnostics means and stations and provision of depot repairs with modern technological equipment. The expediency of purchasing new cargo locomotives is based on scientific research.