Choosing alternative corridors for the Norrbotniabanan by the use of Multi-Criteria Analysis
During 2002-2003 a pre-feasibility study of a possible Norrbotnia railway is conducted. Norrbotniabanan is a new coastal railway, between Umeå-Luleå-Haparanda, in total some 400 km of line. An important part of this study is to identify potential corridors and select corridors for further investigation. This is done in a dialogue with local authorities throughout the study. Due to the number of possible corridors and possible combinations along the line Umeå - Robertsfors – Skellefteå – Piteå – Luleå – Boden – Kalix - Haparanda the final number of alternatives is quite large. In general choosing some ”best” alternative is not an easy task, when many alternatives occur. Many effects have to be taken into account e.g. construction cost, time savings, various impacts on environment etc. Many of these impacts cannot easily be incorporated into a traditional cost-benefit analysis, nevertheless they play an important role in decision making. Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) is a suitable decision aid tool in such a planning situation. As part of the Norrbotniabana study a simple MCA was carried out. A set of criteria for selecting alternatives was identified. At a seminar with participants from regional and local planning authorities and other interested parties, these criteria were evaluated for each alternative on a simple score from 1-5. Afterwards the relative importance of each criteria was estimated. This was done in groups. The consequences of these scores and weights were then analysed in the PC-tool Decision Criterium Plus. The presentation will report the results of the Multi Criteria Analysis and comment on the lessons learned from the practical use of MCA in the planning process. During 2002-2003 a pre-feasibility study of a possible Norrbotnia railway is conducted. Norrbotniabanan is a new coastal railway, between Umeå-Luleå-Haparanda, in total some 400 km of line. An important part of this study is to identify potential corridors and select corridors for further investigation. This is done in a dialogue with local authorities throughout the study. Due to the number of possible corridors and possible combinations along the line Umeå - Robertsfors – Skellefteå – Piteå – Luleå – Boden – Kalix - Haparanda the final number of alternatives is quite large. In general choosing some ”best” alternative is not an easy task, when many alternatives occur. Many effects have to be taken into account e.g. construction cost, time savings, various impacts on environment etc. Many of these impacts cannot easily be incorporated into a traditional cost-benefit analysis, nevertheless they play an important role in decision making. Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) is a suitable decision aid tool in such a planning situation. As part of the Norrbotniabana study a simple MCA was carried out. A set of criteria for selecting alternatives was identified. At a seminar with participants from regional and local planning authorities and other interested parties, these criteria were evaluated for each alternative on a simple score from 1-5. Afterwards the relative importance of each criteria was estimated. This was done in groups. The consequences of these scores and weights were then analysed in the PC-tool Decision Criterium Plus. The presentation will report the results of the Multi Criteria Analysis and comment on the lessons learned from the practical use of MCA in the planning process.