Call For Papers: Special Issue of ATS – PPP in Railway and TOD

Dear all members of EASTS:

 

This is an announcement of call for papers: A special issue in Asian Transport Studies (ATS).

You are respectfully invited to submit your achievements to this special issue. Its details are available below.

 

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“PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN RAILWAY AND TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT IN ASIAN COUNTRIES”

(https://www.journals.elsevier.com/asian-transport-studies/call-for-papers/call-for-papers-for-the-special-issue-public-private-partner)

 

GUEST EDITORS:

– Prof. Shigeru Morichi, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)

– Prof. Hironori Kato, The University of Tokyo

– Prof. Cheng-Min Feng, National Chiao Tung University

– Dr. Jae-hak Oh, Korea Transport Institute (KOTI)

– Dr. K.E Seetharam, the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)

 

INTRODUCTION:

Railway is expected to play an important role for both urban and interurban transportation markets in many Asian developing countries. However, the developing countries have been typically facing problems in mobilizing funds and financial resources for constructing the railway system since railway consists of capital-intensive infrastructure requiring a large amount of capital investment. Additionally, decision makers in those countries often hesitate to borrow the funds from financial institutions especially after the Greek Crisis. Then, public private partnership (PPP) has been widely considered as an important instrument to utilize private sector’s capital, management, and innovative practices. Nevertheless, although many PPP urban railway projects have been introduced in Asian countries, most of them have suffered from some financial troubles. They may suggest that the success of PPP railway projects significantly depends on how efficiently the PPP scheme is designed.

Many failed PPP railway projects were caused mainly by the inappropriate institutional arrangements, poorly incorporating the unique contexts of railway as an integrated system and local conditions of country or city. The importance of PPP has been well shared among many policy makers while there are unfortunately some misunderstandings among them about the PPP railway projects such as wrong allocation of risks and inappropriate design of contract structure. Railway projects are expected to have positive capitalization impacts, including property value uplift along the railway corridor, in addition to the direct benefits from transportation services. The railway development coordinated with high-density urban development, which is known as transit-oriented development (TOD), could also enhance the property value gain. Many studies have argued that public agency should benefit from the increased values of properties when they are triggered by railway infrastructure investment. However, even if some part of such property value gain is captured, it may not be sufficient enough to cover the financial deficit of railway investment. In many cases, the decision makers in Asian countries expect too much revenue from TOD or value capture in PPP railway projects, which led to their financial difficulties. Both value capture and TOD can be potentially leveraged to make PPP railway projects more viable, but need to be carefully analyzed on the case-by-case basis.

This special issue highlights the unique aspects of PPP schemes in railway projects, notably value capture and TOD. It mainly covers empirical studies that review existing projects, which enable to find lessons and insights for planners and policy makers. They should contribute to on-going and/or future PPP railway projects in Asian countries.

 

SCOPE OF THE SPECIAL ISSUE:

This special issue is motivated to provide an academic and research outlet for sharing academic research, practical lessons, policy insights, and future prospects of PPP railway development primarily focusing on Asian countries. However, research papers from non-Asian countries will also be encouraged provided that the contents and possible insights are relevant for Asian countries. Papers to be submitted can be on any railway system, such as high-speed railway, conventional railway, mass rapid transit, metro/subway, light rail transit, mono-rail, and automated guideway system.

Special focus will be on PPP, value capture, and TOD. Yet, other relevant aspects of railway development will also be accepted. Expected articles in the special issue could be about case studies, comparative analysis, planning and policy strategies, and quantitative analysis. Articles will be evaluated for their relevance in terms of academic as well as practical values for Asian policy makers.

Suggested topics of interest, but are not limited to the following:

– Lessons from the successful and/or failure PPP railway projects

– Risk analysis and management for PPP railway projects

– Project scheme or structure for PPP railway projects

– Role of government and private sector for PPP, value capture, and TOD

– Legal system for PPP projects

– Land-use regulation policy for value-capture and TOD

– Railway fare policy and financial sustainability of PPP railway projects

Articles submitted to this special issue must contain significant relevance to railway development in Asian countries and cities.

Submitted articles should not be published or under review elsewhere.

 

EXPECTED SCHEDULE:

EXPECTED SCHEDULE:

– Submission of full paper: by December 31, 2021

– Feedback from the first-round review: by March 31, 2022

– Submission of revised manuscripts: by May 31, 2022

– Feedback from the second-round review: by July 31, 2022

– Final acceptance: September 30, 2022

– Planned publication: by the end of 2022

 

OTHERS:

– This announcement is also available at the Elsevier’s site of https://www.journals.elsevier.com/asian-transport-studies/call-for-papers/call-for-papers-for-the-special-issue-public-private-partner.

– Authors are further advised to see the guidance (including instructions of paper writing) from the following URL: https://www.elsevier.com/journals/asian-transport-studies/2185-5560/guide-for-authors.

– The accepted manuscripts will be published in the virtual special issue of Asian Transport Studies (https://www.journals.elsevier.com/asian-transport-studies).

– Manuscripts should be submitted through the Editorial Manager for Asian Transport Studies at https://www.editorialmanager.com/eastsj/default.aspx.

 

Hironori Kato

Editor-in-chief

Asian Transport Studies

Vol.1-5: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/eastsats

Vol. 6-: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/asian-transport-studies

ats-editor@ip.civil.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp