Tram Network Development in Northern Pankow
Initial Situation
The Elisabeth-Aue area is predominantly used for agriculture and is located in the Pankow district. There were plans to develop an urban quarter with up to 5,000 residential units and additional infrastructure facilities. These plans were abandoned; however, the study on tram network development for the area, which began in 2016, was completed.
The objective of the study was to identify environmentally, urbanistically, and socially compatible solutions for the development and connection of the planning area. This pertains both to the area itself and its surroundings. The aim was to strengthen sustainable transport. One proposed measure was the connection of the area to the tram network. Various tram network development variants were presented and comparatively evaluated.
Task
- Identification and evaluation of route alternatives
- Determination of preferred variants for three planning scenarios
- Estimation of potentials
- Preliminary assessment of economic efficiency, including a socio-economic cost-benefit analysis (CBA)
- Standardized evaluation
Approach
From the route study, three planning scenarios with multiple variants were examined. The determination of the preferred variant was carried out using the formalized two-stage evaluation procedure. For two planning scenarios, preferred variants were justified. A further scenario was derived from the combination of the two other preferred variants.
The economic efficiency calculation was carried out according to the procedure of the Standardized Evaluation of public transport infrastructure investments. Demand forecasts were generated in the qualified traffic demand model of the State of Berlin using the traffic planning software PTV Visum.
Update of the CBA
The originally conducted CBA (Cost-Benefit Analysis) was calculated according to the then-applicable 2006 version of the Standardized Assessment procedure. Since then, two updates of the procedure have been carried out, so that the 2016+ version is now the currently valid one. The CBA therefore needed to be recalculated for two of the three planning cases according to this procedure.
This includes, in addition to discounting and partial revaluation of various cost and benefit items at the new price level, also the calculation and monetization of newly included benefit components in the procedure.
Furthermore, to derive and depict the “without-project” scenario in PTV VISUM, the updated traffic model of the State of Berlin and a new land-use concept for Elisabeth-Aue were used, incorporating significant changes in the public transport supply in both the without-project scenario and the planning cases. Accordingly, the demand forecasts were recalculated with PTV VISUM, and the public transport operating cost calculations were adjusted. As a result, a complete Standardized Assessment according to version 2016+ is now available for the project.