Project

Update for the SIRIP assessment guideline

For many years, the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) has used a set of sustainability indicators for railway infrastructure projects as a guideline for assessing railway development proposals. EBP was commissioned to update the guideline.

Sustainability indicators for railway infrastructure projects (SIRIP)

“SIRIP” is a guideline that the Federal Office of Transport has used since 2006 to assess railway projects. eSIRIP is a corresponding electronic tool for running assessment calculations.

SIRIP was conceived for users who need to either carry out project assessments on their own or manage assessment processes on behalf of their clients. The methods outlined in the guideline are based on the target and indicator system of sustainable transportation applied by the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). In the context of the assessment, all of those indicators that can be monetarized are entered into a semi-dynamic, cost-benefit analysis while those indicators that cannot be monetarized are represented separately. Account is also taken of shifts in transportation from roadways to railways (private motorized transportation and public transportation). Any anticipated economic consequences are also represented separately.

Update accounts for the railway expansion project 2030/35

The rationale for the SIRIP update was to enable third parties to assess the calculations run in the framework of the strategic railway development program (expansion project 2030/35). While SIRIP was therefore not subject to a complete revision, the update takes account of developments seen in the context of the assessments of the expansion project 2030/35. These include the following:

  • Inclusion of stability in the cost-benefit analysis
  • Integration of changes that have an impact on public transportation on roadways
  • Assessment of rail stops

The latest calculation factors and valuation structures are included in the update. Moreover, the descriptive indicators were updated in light of the newly developed “Uniform Assessment Methods for Federal Roadways” issued by the Swiss Federal Roads Office.

Result: guideline and calculation tool

SIRIP 2016 is an updated guideline for assessing railway projects. It is available in German, French and Italian. eNIBA 2016 offers users an additional, automated calculation tool. It, too, is available in Excel in the above-mentioned three languages.

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