Modal Choice between Rail and Road Transportation : Evidence from Tanzania
Rail transport generally has the advantage for large-volume long-haul freight operations. The literature generally shows that shipping distance, costs, and reliability are among the most important determinants of people's modal choice among ro...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/733781504010382743/Modal-choice-between-rail-and-road-transportation-evidence-from-Tanzania http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28349 |
| Summary: | Rail transport generally has the
advantage for large-volume long-haul freight operations. The
literature generally shows that shipping distance, costs,
and reliability are among the most important determinants of
people's modal choice among road, rail, air, and
coastal shipping transport. However, there is little
evidence in Africa, although the region historically
possesses significant rail assets. Currently, Africa's
rail transport faces intense competition against truck
transportation. With firm-level data, this paper examines
shippers' modal choice in Tanzania. The traditional
multinomial logit and McFadden’s choice models were
estimated. The paper shows that rail prices and shipping
distance and volume are important determinants of
firms' mode choice. The analysis also finds that the
firms' modal choice depends on the type of
transactions. Rail transport is more often used for
international trading purposes. Exporters and importers are
key customers for restoring rail freight operations. Rail
operating speed does not seem to have an unambiguous effect
on firms' modal selection. |
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