Assessment of the Quality of Passenger Transportation by Train Using Multiple Criteria Decision Making Methods (Lecture Notes in Intelligent Transportation and Infrastructure)

This book presents a study of the rail travel process, where passengers under normal (non-emergency) conditions choose their own itinerary considering the offered timetable, travel expenses, comfort, potential risks, quality of service and other factors. Upon identifying many criteria that are critical for this kind of transport, the authors show how to use them to generate a multicriteria mathematical models to calculate the quality of the travel. The model is used to compare road, rail, and air transport alternatives against each other. The results are presented, together with the technical details to build up the model. This book is intended for students, researchers and decision makers working on the development and quality assessment of rail transport.

Prof. Habil. Dr. Henrikas Sivilevičius serves as a Professor in the Faculty of Transport Engineering at the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University – VILNIUS TECH. His research interests cover mathematical and decision-making methods for improving road and rail passenger transport. Author of one English textbook published by Vilnius: Technika (2000), 12 methodological publications and 11 normative-technical documents in Lithuanian, as well as 264 scientific articles in both English and Lithuanian, H. Sivilevičius is also a member of the Joint Doctoral Committee in the field of Transport Engineering, organized by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University in partnership with Klaipėda University, Vytautas Magnus University and Kaunas University of Technology. He served the editorial board of five scientific journals. He has supervised or acted as scientific advisor for eight doctoral theses. He is currently a Senior Researcher at the VILNIUS TECH Transport and Logistics Competence Centre and the Civil Engineering Research Centre. The Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania has awarded him the Badge of Honorary Road Worker.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lijana Maskeliūnaitė is a Doctor of Technological Sciences in the field of Transport Engineering and Associate Professor at the Department of Mobile Machinery and Railway Transport, Faculty of Transport Engineering, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VILNIUS TECH). She has been working there since 2013. She also worked as a researcher at the VILNIUS TECH Transport and Logistics Competence Centre from 2016 to 2017. In 2013 she defended her Doctoral Thesis in the field of Transport Engineering (Technological Sciences), entitled “The Model for Multicriteria Evaluation of the Quality of Passenger Transport by International Trains”. She was awarded the title of Associate Professor of Technological Sciences at VILNIUS TECH in 2020. Her research interests cover the application of multi-criteria decision-making and mathematical methods in transport. Author of one textbook (published in Lithuanian), and twenty-two research articles (published in English), L. Maskeliūnaitė has gained over 30 years’ experience in the rail passenger transport sector. She has worked as a train manager on Lithuania’s first high-speed train “Baltija”, and on the international trains “Vilnius–Warsaw”, “Vilnius–St. Petersburg” and “Vilnius–Moscow”. In 2005, she was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania for her work and long-term professional excellence in Lithuanian railway transport. In 2008, the Vilnius–Moscow international train team under her leadership was nominated as the “Best Passenger Train Team of the Year 2008”.