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The role of railways within urban areas is analysed, covering ‘metro’ systems (self-contained heavy rail networks, often with substantial underground sections), light rail (both upgraded street tramways and newer systems), and travel by regional and national railways within urban areas. Basic operating characteristics, system capacity, capital costs, and technological change are examined. ‘Sustainability’ is analysed in respect of energy use and environmental impact, railways’ role in supporting high-density urban living (with associated benefits through greater use of non-motorised modes), and financial aspects (coverage of operating costs and ability to finance capital renewals). Current issues examined include the effect of users shifting to more flexible working patterns, the Covid pandemic, automation, and ownership. In general, urban railways can be seen to support a sustainable lifestyle, although some issues do arise in respect of longer distance commuting.

This purpose of this paper is to evaluate the experiences of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in China's urban rail development, investigates the critical factors impacting on the project viability and derives lessons for future urban rail PPP projects in China and elsewhere.

A case study of the Beijing Metro Line 4 project was adopted as the main research method with semi-structured interviews with senior practitioners and experienced academics as the primary data collection instrument. Qualitative data were collected and subjected to content analysis.

The case study provides six critical factors which are required to facilitate PPP urban rail development: streamlined approval process; robust tendering; strong leadership within the public procuring authority; effective organisational structure and the private sector innovation; commensurate charging approach and government subsidising scheme; and appropriate risk allocation. The research shows that the potential to directly re-apply the Beijing Metro Line 4 model to future urban rail development is limited, but lessons for future urban rail PPPs can still be drawn from the study.

The paper serves as an illustration to public procuring authorities and potential private investors on how to structure and manage urban rail PPPs.

The research presents an original investigation of China’s first urban rail PPP, the Beijing Metro Line 4 project and assesses the applicability of the Beijing model to future PPP projects in urban rail development.

Purpose – The chapter studies methods of integrating the connection between land use and traffic surrounding rail transit stations. It offers guidance to urban planners about how to arrange transfer facilities scientifically and promote more efficient use of land nearby.

Methodology – The chapter describes studies of station type, station positioning, recommended building floor area ratio (FAR), traffic connection and land use functional demand for five stations on No. 2 Metro Line in Nanjing, determining the traffic connections and layout for the land use surrounding the five stations.

Findings – This study of the integrated connection between land use and transport surrounding rail transit stations will act as a guide to help arrange the building of essential transfer facilities scientifically and help cities to make better use of the scarce amount of urban land available for development. This study also shows that the transport system plays an important part in adjusting the functional layout of land use surrounding rail transit stations.

Social implications – The results of this study will be particularly significant in the integration of urban planning management and transport management. Furthermore, the coordinated interaction between land-use planning, traffic planning and urban design will benefit Chinese cities as they continue to grow throughout the 21st century and beyond.

Traffic congestion and disorderly development of land will affect the development of cities. How to make efficient use of urban land is a major issue for cities. Based on this, the problems existing in the planning and construction of urban rail transit in our country were analyzed. The method of rail transit network layout, as well as the site size, site selection and spacing optimization methods were analyzed. The combinatorial network layout planning of Metro Line in a city was studied. According to the layout of rail transit stations, a layout optimization model was proposed. Three basic network layouts were used to lay down the subway lines in this city, and the site size, spacing and intersection points were planned. The effective utilization rate of urban land was increased, and people's travel time was saved, so as to provide a new idea for the layout of rail transit

Many factors contribute to public rail transit use in an urban network. However, a dysfunctional relationship between the built environment and the transport system significantly deters such use. Architects, urban designers, town planners and policymakers must understand the factors that promote or deter pedestrian use of the urban environment.

The paper investigates four connectivity and walkability factors for three different metro stations in Doha, Qatar: Al Aziziyah, Hamad Hospital and West Bay. The analysis includes pedestrian sheds, block sizes, ground-level land uses and connectedness in the urban spatial network based on catchment contour maps using space syntax.

The results indicate the three metro stations and neighborhoods are representative of diverse type of neighborhoods in Doha: relatively compact but expansive for the Hamad Hospital Station area, metrically and topologically restrictive due to the poor planning and the peninsular location of the reclaimed land in the West Bay area, and expansive, shallow and reliant on attraction for the Al Waab transportation corridor associated with Al Aziziyah Station.

Time factors and temporary closure/capacity reductions due to the global pandemic restricted planned efforts to collect more pedestrian use data based on passive observations and preference choices using surveys during the study. Nonetheless, adapting the investigation to the circumstances produced significant findings.

The analysis can help us develop better guidelines and diagnostic tools to calibrate design and planning strategies promoting more walkable, healthy and sustainable neighborhoods.

The study is original due to examining stations of the new Doha Metro for the first time. However, it relies on well-established representational techniques in urban morphology and space syntax research.

Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems have emerged as an attractive form of public transport both in industrialised as well as developing countries. This paper reviews the implementation mechanism of LRT projects proured by private finance, through Build Operate Transfer (BOT) type concession contracts. A case study approach is used to model an actual LRT project. The case study analysis shows that the uncertainty factor could be converted to monetary terms and the process would enhance ability of the decision makers to have a better understanding of the consequences of risks.