Vol 6, No 3 (2020)

The Russian Federation by its geographical position is a maritime power that had been occupying a leading position until a certain period of time. All the processes taking place in Russia during the transition period to a market economy negatively affected the country's maritime activities. In recent years, Russia has been making serious efforts to regain the leading position of a maritime power. In all the areas of maritime activities the Russian Federation provides support to domestic sectors of the economy using modern economic mechanisms for innovative development in order to increase the competitiveness of domestic business structures. One of the directions in the formation of a new structure of the Russian economy is the creation of state corporations, the merger of enterprises, the introduction of the cluster approach to the spatial integration of business entities located in separate territories.

In their article the authors suggested using modern mechanisms of increasing the efficiency of the elements of the transport system of the coastal regions in the North of Russia for enterprises with single and small-scale production, which include shipbuilding and ship repair enterprises, using clustering as an effective mechanism to increase competitiveness, both in the domestic and foreign markets.

The paper analyzes the use of modern economic mechanisms, such as joint ventures and the cluster approach in the shipbuilding industry of Russia, estimates the current state of ship repair enterprises in the coastal region of the North of Russia and proposes a conceptual approach to create a cluster of ship repair enterprises in the Murmansk region in order to satisfy the need for ship repair services, the volume of which has increased recently in all coastal regions of the North of Russia.

The Chuo Shinkansen is a Japanese maglev line under construction between Tokyo and Osaka. On a central section of the line, construction has come to a standstill in 2020 for reasons of regional policy. This threatens the completion of the entire line. The article describes some of the interests triggering the underlying conflict. Some of the key points contained in the Japanese solution proposals are summarized. Overall, the opening of the high-speed maglev system is likely to be postponed by several years.

Background: Hyperloop is a new technological concept for a very fast magnetic levitation train that would travel through soft vacuum tubes and could achieve a speed of up to 1,200 km/h. As a new transportation system, it might bring some challenges related to human factors that should be tested and considered when designing and propagating Hyperloop.

Aim: This paper used literature review to identify potential physiological and social challenges. Some of these challenges might be high speed, high acceleration /deceleration, large magnetic forces, safety concerns, air pressure, motion sickness and cost as potential human-related challenges.

Methods: In this case, the method of literature review aimed to evaluate the potential physiological effect of these factors on the passengers. It investigated physiological consequences of very high speed, high acceleration/deceleration, and a high magnetic field, as well as human factors of the Maglev trains.

Results: The literature identified high acceleration/deceleration, high speed and high magnetic field as potential risks or sources of discomfort for the passengers.

Conclusion: To the knowledge of the authors, it is the first attempt to identify social and physiological challenges related to the Hyperloop trains concept. It is aimed to inform the development and policies to achieve the safest and most comfortable transportation form.

Background: At present, there is an urgent problem of renovation of rolling stock characterized by a high degree in Russia. The leading position in the country's transport system belongs to railway transport. In the context of declining demand for transportation investments in railcars, which represent a significant amount of capital investment, require reasonable management decisions.

Aim: is to work out a decision-making model for renewal the transport organization's railway rolling stock.

Methods: of technical, economic, investment and financial analysis, “decision tree”, graphical modeling, system approach.

Results: The basic components of the decision-making model are determined. The key indicators of railway rolling stock renewal are defined, reflecting the criteria for making managerial decisions in the field of operational, investment and financial activities. A graphical model is proposed that interprets the decision support system for purchasing new railcars.

Conclusion: Using the proposed model of decision-making in the field of renovation of rolling stock allows to transfer this process to a qualitatively new level, based on the results of an objective assessment of the current and forecast state of the management object according to various alternative scenarios and based on the selection of the rational decision by comparing the expected results for each of the considered alternatives and analysis degree of their compliance with the determined goals due to its versatility and complexity.