# Railway Lines across the Alps: Analysis of Their Usage through a New Railway Link Cost Function
## 5 Results
### Usage of Alpine Passes  
The number of O-D pairs taken into account in this study is very large. Consequently, in the Table 2, only the results for a selection of some representative O-D pairs are reported. The results for a larger part of the O-D pairs, taken into account in this study, are reported in the Appendix A. If the origin or destination is a port, the rail terminal closest to the maritime container terminal was taken into account: for example, PSA Genova Pra, La Spezia Marittima, Hamburg Eurogate/Waltershof, Rotterdam Euromax. If the origin or destination is an inland city, the most important rail freight terminal close to the city centre was taken into account, for example: Turin Orbassano, Paris Noisy, Munchen Riem, Wien Sud. The paths of minimum travel time have been determined from the optimization by travel times, the paths of minimum monetary cost have been determined from the optimization by monetary costs, while the paths of minimum generalized cost have been determined from the optimization by generalized costs. In the 'project scenario', the new lines will take up the demand of the O-D pairs that in the 'current scenario' use the corresponding old railway lines, but also the demand of other O-D pairs that in the 'current scenario' use other passes. For example, the new Brenner base tunnel, in the 'project scenario', will take up the demand of the O-D pair Milan-Munich (that in the 'current scenario' uses the old line through Brenner pass), but also the demand of the O-D pair Venice-Munich which currently crosses the Tarvisio and Tauern rail lines. Similarly, the Frejus base tunnel will take up the demand of the O-D pair Genoa-Paris (that currently uses the old line), but also the demand of the O-D pair Novara-Paris which currently crosses the Luino line and the Gotthard base tunnel. The most important railway axis, in the European region considered, is the Gotthard one (see also the larger set of the O-D pairs considered in the Appendix A), especially thanks to the construction of the base tunnel, already in operation in the 'current scenario'. But, the construction of the Brenner base tunnel will be able to take up a quota of the demand currently crossing the Gotthard line. In addition, the Brenner base tunnel will also take up a quota of demand currently using the Tarvisio and Tauern lines. The Frejus base tunnel, in the Turin-Lyon line, will also be able to take up a quota of the demand to/from the western part of the Padan Plain, especially because the rail track cost is much lower in France and Italy than in Switzerland. The Frejus base tunnel will also be able to attract a quota of demand that currently crosses the Ventimiglia line: indeed, currently, the best path between Milan and the Avignon rail junction crosses Ventimiglia, while in the 'project scenario' it crosses the Frejus base tunnel. The Avignon rail junction is very important because it is the beginning of the line to Barcelona, on the European Mediterranean Corridor. It consists of the junction between the Lyon-Marseilles rail line and the rail line to Barcelona and is located about 3 km on the west of Avignon, as shown in Figure 1. This junction is taken into account because Barcelona is outside the area modelled in this study (see Figure 1). The new Semmering line, instead, will be very important for Central-Eastern European destinations: in particular, between Zagreb and southern Germany, currently the best path crosses the Karavanke and Tauern lines, while in the 'project scenario' it crosses the line across Maribor and the Semmering base tunnel. This shift of the demand is very positive as the Karavanke line shows bad geometrical characteristics. This will also improve the competitiveness of Adriatic ports, against northern European ports, to reach Central-Eastern European destinations. Indeed, Adriatic ports are in a more favourable position, than northern European ports, for the maritime route to Far East.