{"id":2341,"date":"2017-02-08T01:14:44","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T00:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/?p=2341"},"modified":"2017-02-14T16:50:17","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T15:50:17","slug":"top-models","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/top-models\/","title":{"rendered":"Top models"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Maltese islands, with their extremely high population density (the highest in the EU and the eighth highest in the world), suffer congestion problems and traffic jams due to the extensive use of private passenger cars. The islands have no railway network, however maritime and aviation are important modes of transport both to and from mainland Europe and between the islands. Croatia, on the continent, is almost 180 times larger than Malta by area, but has a far lower population density. The country\u2019s highways, roads and railway lines are currently undergoing a process of renovation and modernisation, as are river transport routes on large inland waterways such as the Danube and the Sava.<\/p>\n

There are significant differences between Malta and Croatia in terms of their size and population; however both are currently in the process of planning the future growth of their transport networks, crucial for ensuring the proper working of their economies.<\/p>\n

Malta and Croatia commissioned the services of Ineco experts, who prepared their respective National Transport Models as a crucial part of their medium and long-term planning strategies. In Malta, the National Master Plan was also developed<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both countries commissioned the services of Ineco experts, who prepared their respective National Transport Models to support their medium and long-term planning strategies. In Malta, the National Master Plan was also developed.<\/p>\n

Using the leading software tools on the market (Aimsun, Legion, Visum, EMME, TransCAD, CUBE, WITNESS, HCS, ArcGIS and Viriato, among others), the transport modelling consultant team of the company develop models which depict reality and enable forecasts to be made, offering a clear, simple representation of complex realities. In this way, governments and transport authorities avail of a highly effective decision-making tool and are also able to compare the possible effects of these decisions in different scenarios and time horizons.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s more. Models and simulations can take many different forms and be developed at different scales, from the effects of a new traffic light at a crossroads, to the demand analysis of a new highway or airport affecting an entire region or a country. They can also serve a range of purposes, from estimating traffic or demand to identifying weaknesses in the design of all kinds of infrastructure and public spaces (for example, spaces causing queues or congestion in stations or which prevent the correct operation of ground handling vehicles on airport runways); they can even be used to study the punctuality of a high-speed railway line.<\/p>\n

These examples are taken from some of Ineco\u2019s real assignments from recent years, which also include \u201ctailor-made\u201d models for specific projects.<\/p>\n

Malta<\/h4>\n

On the Maltese archipelago, which is made up of five islands (Malta, Gozo, Comino, Cominotto and Filfla, of which only the first three are inhabited), the most widely used form of transport is the private car. The level of car ownership in the country, at 759 vehicles per thousand people, is one of the highest in the European Union, as are the density of its road network, at 762 kilometres per 100 km2<\/sup>, and its population density, at 1,325 people per km2<\/sup>, compared to the European average of 117. And all of this in a territory of just 316 km2<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

In such a unique context, the Maltese government established the islands\u2019 need for short, medium and long-term transport planning, which would require thorough preliminary analysis. In 2014, the through transport authority, Transport Malta, the government ran a public tender to carry out the analysis. The winning bidder was the consortium made up of Ineco and the Italian company Systematica with the support of the Maltese firm ADI Associates, tasked with developing the strategic environmental assessment of the proposed measures.<\/p>\n