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Public Transport and Railways
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:47:45
Abstract
Fundamentals of public and collective transport, in its different forms.Categorization of performance dimensions of public transport systems, and their implications to their design and operations.
Objective
Teaches the basic principles of public transport network and topology design, to understand the main characteristics and differences of public transport networks, based on buses, railways, or other technologies. Teaches students to recognize the interactions between the infrastructure design and the production processes, and various performance criteria based on various perspective and stakeholders. At the end of this course, students can critically analyze existing networks of public transport, their design and use; consider and substantiate different choices of technologies to suitable cases; optimize the use of resources in public transport.
Content
Fundamentals: Infrastructures and vehicle technologies of public transport systems; interaction between track and vehicles; passengers and goods as infrastructure users; management and financing of networks. Infrastructure: Planning processes and decision levels in network development and infrastructure planning, planning of topologies; tracks and roadways, station infrastructures; Fundamentals of the infrastructure design for lines; track geometries; switches and crossings Vehicles: Classification, design and suitability for different goals Network design: design dilemmas, conceptual models for passenger transport on long distance, urban regional transport. Operations: Passenger/Supply requirements for line operations; timetabling, measures of realized operations, capacity
Resources
Lecture Notes
Slides, in English, are made available some days before each lecture.
Literature
Reference material books are provided in German and English (list disseminated at lecture), plus Skript Bahninfrastruktur; System- und Netzplanung
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- session examination
- Mode
- written 75 minutes
- Aids
- none
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise | Public Transport and Railways |
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Environmental Sciences Bachelor (Students can choose between one Bachelor thesis of 10KP or two Bachelor theses of 5KP each. In principle, all professors and lecturers involved in the teaching of the Environmental Sciences degree programme are entitled to supervise a Bachelor's thesis (BA). BA in the area of social sciences and humanities can only be supervised by lecturers who teach in this area. The same applies to BA in the field of natural sciences and technology. If the thesis is supervised by a person who does not teach in the Environmental Sciences degree programme or who does not have ETH lecturer status, then the student has to fill in the "Form for supervisors of a Bachelor thesis who do not teach in the Environmental Sciences degree programme" Link)
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Environmental Planning (101-0515-00 Projektmanagement and 103-0313-00 Raum- und Landschaftsentwicklung are prerequisites for the Master's degree in Spatial Development and Infrastructure Systems and should be successfully completed in the Bachelor's degree if possible.)
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