Fundación de los Ferrocarriles Españoles

Se ha escrito de los ingenieros de caminos del XIX que “fueron a la vez producto y artífices de la construcción del Estado en la España decimonónica”, pero ¿podría decirse lo mismo de uno de sus vástagos principales como fue el ferrocarril? ¿La red ferroviaria española fue producto y artífice de esta construcción? Este trabajo pretende aportar otra clave más para comprender las dificultades que existieron en España para construir el Estado.

This article provides a new methodology for estimating fuel consumption and emissions by enabling a correct comparison between freight transportation modes. The approach is developed and integrated as a part of an intelligent transportation system dealing with goods movement. A key issue is related to energy consumption ratios and consequent CO2 emissions. Energy consumption ratios are often used based on transport demand. However, including other ratios based on transport supply can be useful. Furthermore, it is important to indicate which factors are associated with variations in energy consumption and emissions; especially of interest are parameters that have a higher incidence and order of magnitude, in order to fairly compare and understand the difference between transport modes and sub-modes. The study finds that the use of an energy consumption equation can improve the quality of the estimates. The study proposes that coefficients that define the energy consumption equation should be tested to determine market niches and sources of improvement in energy consumption according to the category of vehicles, fuel types used, and classes of products transported.

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