Transport and its Context
The transport system; movement of people and goods; transport modes and infrastructure; characteristics of transport systems. Demand for transport and its interaction with supply: location, passenger and freight demand, needs of special groups, transport costs. Resources and expenditure. Roles of agencies and individuals in Britain and in Europe as a whole related to transport. Policy issues worldwide concerning transport. Legislation, regulation and administration. Case studies based on London and its transport.
Quantitative Methods
Sources and examples of transport data; survey methods; presentation and interpretation of data; systematic and non-systematic variations in data, models for systematic variation; approaches to decision making and design; optimisation; probability and random processes; sampling; standard probability distributions; estimation of population parameters; hypothesis testing; categorical models; continuous models; model specification and fitting; model calibration and validation. Use of computers and relevant software packages.
Transport Engineering and Operations
Basic mechanics of transport operations and implications for safety; flow of traffic on open track; flow at points of conflict or interruption; queuing; alignment and layout of highway links and free-flow junctions; roundabouts and priority junctions; traffic signal control; provision for non-motorised traffic; provision for particular kinds of motor vehicle; road safety engineering; basic operational and engineering requirements for railways; passenger transport interchange; public passenger transport operation and safety; freight transport infrastructure and operation; logistics; transport system management.
Transport Economics
Economic assumptions, methods and value judgements underlie much transport analysis and policy prescription. Introduction and basic assumptions, Markets and the "invisible hand" theorem, Market failure, Public goods and externalities, Government intervention, Basic economic model and extensions including provider's budget constraint and congestion and road pricing, Cost-benefit analysis, Value of travel time savings, Value of life and limb, Transport and the wider economy, Transport regulation and deregulation, Experience of deregulation: buses and airlines.
Transport Demand and its Modelling
Introduction: transport planning and modelling; the concept of travel demand and its economic basis. The conventional approach: trip generation and attraction; trip distribution and destination choice; generalised costs; calibration; mode choice; route choice and assignment; alternative model structures and their implications; forecasting the population and transport inputs to travel demand models; vehicle ownership forecasting; the relationships between the stages in the conventional approach and the need for feedback. Alternative modelling approaches: long term models of the relationship between land use and transport; the incorporation of time use and scheduling into the models.
Transport Policy
This module considers the process of formulating transport policy, and its implications -- the nature of transport policy, the transport policy formulation process, interactions between transport and other policy areas, constraints and opportunities in accessible transport systems, Climate policy and aviation, behavioural reactions in road safety policy, transport policy in the US, issues in the assessment of transport policy, private and public ownership and control, regulation and deregulation, safety: the policy implications, policy into practice: congestion charging, Policy making in planning.
Highway Engineering
Outline of highway design process. Collection and interpretation of traffic data. Introduction to geometric link design of highways; methods of horizontal alignment; theory of transition curves and superelevation; use of design charts; vertical alignment and optimisation; earthworks calculations; computer software. Principles of pavement design; design of wearing course—concrete and asphalts. Design of multi-level intersections. Light railways. Bus priority systems. Highway information systems. Cost benefit analysis.
Road Traffic Theory and its Application
Vehicle-following and fluid models of traffic flow; applications of models of traffic flow. Traffic queues: steady state and time-dependent analysis. Modelling, analysis and design of priority junctions and roundabouts. Signal control at individual junctions; coordinated signal control; priority for public transport in signal control; design of signal controlled road junctions; principles of urban traffic control and calculation of timing plans. Comprehensive traffic management—objectives, techniques, modelling and evaluation.
Public Transport
General features of public transport; history and role of public transport in urban areas; economics of public transport; planning of infrastructure; operations and management; new developments. History of urban development and public transport. Public transport and car use. Modelling public transport in urban areas. Economics of interacting services. Economic aspects of bus deregulation. Planning of urban infrastructure. Rail case-study from London. Rail service operations. Bus service operations. Accessibility to public transport. Prospective developments in public transport
Transport Safety
Review of transport hazards and comparison with other hazards; legislation, policy, and attitudes to transport safety; methods for improving road safety; the delivery and improvement of public transport safety; quantitative risk analysis; case-studies. Accident investigation. Primary and secondary safety measures. Accident reduction and prevention. Railways safety principles. Quantified risk assessment: introduction, risk estimation and risk appraisal. Road safety: urban safety project REA. Railway safety: the Channel Tunnel
Quantitative Techniques for Transport Engineering and Planning
Formulation of models in transport studies. Approaches to survey design. Specification of sample and frame size. Analysis of survey data: before and after; treatment and comparison; sampling and non-sampling biases, non-response. Simulation modelling and analysis. Optimal design and sensitivity analysis. Techniques of optimisation: linear and convex formulations. Principles, estimation and use of statistical models: calibration and validation. Generalised linear models. Heteroscedascity, Time series. Model-based inference. Application of statistical models to transport studies. Application areas that will be discussed include transport safety, traffic engineering, and travel behaviour.
Transport in Developing Countries
Introduction: characteristics of developing countries; availability of resources; the role of transport in development; ownership and regulation of transport industries in developing countries; the effects of economic and political change on the provision of transport; problem analysis and data issues. Transport provision: problems in providing transport in urban and rural areas; solutions to the problems; construction and maintenance of roads; transport planning; differences in methods from those used in ‘western’ countries. Implementation: project appraisal; the role of funding agencies; project management; the provision of appropriate technology; the transfer of technology to developing countries.
Transport Infrastructure Project Management
Function and role of management; organisational structures; project management and the role of project managers; the role of the client; the tools of project management; project implementation; types of contract; conditions of contract; case study.
Advanced Transport Modelling
Modelling the equilibrium between supply and demand; advanced assignment methods; combined models of the various elements of travel demand; estimation of trip matrices from traffic counts. Economic fundamentals of random utility theory, choice axioms, relationship to neoclassical economic theory. Generalised extreme value models - binary, multinominal, hierarchical and cross nested logit models. Mixed logit and Mixed GEV models including random parameter and error component formulations and simulation-based estimation. Appraisal with discrete choice models including income effects, approximate welfare measures including logsum and rule of a half. Static and dynamic direct demand models including cross section, time series and combined econometric models.
Understanding and Modelling Travel Behaviour
Understanding travel as a complex behaviour; trips vs activity patterns. The activity based approach; spatial and temporal constraints on behaviour, household interactions, time use, information and uncertainty in choice behaviour. Describing activity-travel patterns; single day and multi-day patterns. Measuring activity-travel behaviour; travel diaries and longitudinal surveys, survey design and survey non-response. Measuring response behaviour; panel data, stated preference surveys, consistency and validity. Models of activity participation and scheduling - alternative formulations, econometric, heuristic and simulation. Microsimulation models; Monte Carlo methods, development of synthetic populations, simulation of choice processes over time. Integrated land use transport modelling; regression, mathematical programming, spatial interaction and locational choice models.
Transport and the Environment
To provide an understanding of the complex interrelationships between transport and the environment, to discuss the various environmental impacts caused by the provision and use of transport, to analyse causes and to discuss technology and policy solutions to environmental problems. The course will focus on the economics of environmental, land use and transport policy and how these affect environmental outcomes. Students will be able to describe, to measure and to quantify environmental impacts of individual behaviour, of transport policies and of transport projects, they will understand the complex nature of the causes of environmental impacts from transport and will be aware of social and economic implications of possible solutions.
Transport Telematics
Introduction and transport telematics; objectives, technologies and applications, user requirements. Functional and physical architecture; data capture, processing, communications, navigation and human-machine interaction, physical architectures. Positioning/navigation technologies; terrestrial and space based system, integrated navigation systems, GIS. Mobile communication; one-way and two-way communications, microwave and infrared systems, transaction processing in payment systems. Data capture and processing; traffic monitoring and surveillance, real-time databases. User interaction; roadside and in-vehicle displays, standards, ergonomic and safety issues. Evaluation; technical, operational, institutional, behavioural and economic. Future prospects and markets; technological trends, standards, competition and policy.
Railway Policy, Management and Engineering
Design of Accessible Transport Systems
This course aims to give a sound background to the philosophy, implementation and evaluation of accessible transport systems. The course includes a lecture component covering general principles, legislation, planning and management and a series of workshop study sessions in which these issues are applied in practice. Some of these sessions will be conducted in laboratory conditions and some involve practical applications in real-world environments.
Freight Transport
The module aims to provide a thorough understanding of freight transport. All modes of transport as well as inter- and multi-modal transport will be covered. The impact of recent trends in logistics and supply chain management on freight transport will be described. This will include lean concepts and outsourcing. Strategic, tactical and operational levels of freight transport planning will be described. Routeing and scheduling methods as used in tour and load planning will be presented, including the availability of software. The developing field of mobile communications in freight transport will be covered. The problems of and solutions for freight transport in cities (city logistics) will be described. The specialist field of hazardous material transport will be looked at. The module will conclude by presenting freight flow modelling techniques as used in national, regional and urban planning.
Asset Management, Project Planning and Maintenance
This module provides a sound background to the management of transport infrastructure assets, the planning of works associated with these assets and the decision making and solutions required for their maintenance. It covers such aspects as asset management systems, asset management plan, asset catalogue, asset knowledge, the use of geographical information systems, delivery (plan, design, risk & value management, procure, construct), audit and review. Maintenance issues addressed include whole life costing, i.e. long term maintenance against replacement and condition assessment at periodic reviews. Several of the sessions are conducted in laboratory conditions whilst others involve case study applications.
Design of Roads, Rail, Bridges, Tunnels and Embankments
This module provides a sound background to the decision making, design and implementation of major transport structures. It covers such aspects as transport route planning and options, information assessment, determination of key aspects, resolution of structural form, e.g. bridge against tunnel, value engineering/ value management and a series of workshops in which these aspects are applied in practice. Several of the sessions are conducted in laboratory conditions whilst others will involve case study applications.
Air Traffic Management
The objective of this module is to introduce the main concepts, technologies and issues involved in air traffic management. This will highlight the main bodies involved and examine the importance of air traffic management in aviation safety, environmental impacts and address cost issues involved. The material covered includes: introduction to air traffic management, the functional elements of the air traffic management system (flight management systems/ navigation/traffic awareness), air traffic management systems (current and future airborne and ground systems), constraints on the air traffic management system including airspace capacity, airspace safety, environment and economics.
Business Management
This module equips students with the skills needed to work in competitive business environments in the civil engineering industry. The basic material will provide students with a thorough understanding of microeconomic and financial theory, project management planning in the context of civil engineering projects, background on the legal framework in which civil engineering projects are conducted, and entrepreneurial and people-management skills. The module is designed to complement core material in the four clusters of MSc courses offered in the department: structural, geotechnical, environmental or transport topics. There are no additional requirements other than those specified by these core MSc courses.
This module is taught jointly by staff of the Imperial College London Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Business School, who have extensive experience in economic policy, management, financial analysis, and entrepreneurship. The basic curriculum will consist of four units. These are:
Microeconomic Theory
This unit provides an overview of basic microeconomic theory fundamental to any understanding of business management. Topics include: consumption and demand, utility, demand and price theory, equilibrium, monopoly and structure of firms, factors of production, public economies.
Financial Analysis
This unit covers the fundamentals of project financing, including net present value, risk and return, financial markets, etc. The second part will cover basics of accounting practice.
Project Management and Entrepreneurship
This unit focuses on practical applications of business management based on the theoretical knowledge developed in other units. It concentrates on specific case studies as applied to civil engineering practice. In addition, issues in entrepreneurship will be covered including those associated with evaluating the viability of new technologies and/or products in civil engineering.
Business environments and Construction Law The focus of this unit is managing people, management in an international context, an introduction to marketing, plus an introduction to English legal systems and construction law as a means of regulating the relationships between parties in engineering projects.
Sustainable Development
This module covers the history and origins of the concept of sustainable development. It will look at the economic, social and environmental drivers for sustainable development and factors that militate against its achievement. Its scope includes not only sustainable development in the developed world, but in developing economies, and the perspectives of foreign aid providers. The unit also covers the role of innovation in maintaining a sustainable development path. It looks at the problems of managing the concept within real engineering projects, how to use local and national sustainable development indicators, the use of integrated life cycle analysis, and the modification of value engineering with concepts such as economic instruments.
The basic curriculum consists of:
Introduction to Sustainable development Introduction and overview of concepts. Fieldtrip to the Earth Centre, Doncaster. Social and institutional aspects of sustainable development. Systems dynamics models of sustainable development. The role of innovation in sustainable development. Energy and sustainable development. Energy technology and sustainable development. Sustainable development and international development. Metrics and key performance indicators. Impact of engineering projects on the environment. Value engineering and sustainable development. Life cycle analysis. Selling sustainable development within an organisation. Risk and sustainable development. Designing design guidance.
Case Studies in Sustainable Development
Review of design project and introduction to case study approach. Water supply and management. Waste management. Transport infrastructure. Energy. Sustainable construction. Sustainable development in developing countries. Air quality and pollution. Sustainable city. Review of principles of engineering for sustainable Development.
Some funding support for full time UK students is available, although it is limited as EPSRC no longer funds Masters courses. Click here to find out more.
The UTP is supported with funds from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, which provides monies for studentships as well as co-operative activities.