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Through the Interchange, United States, Canada and Mexico have developed the <u>North American Transportation Statistics Database</u> that supplies users with relevant, timely and comparable transportation data and information for North America. The 13 year-old Interchange is a forum for the exchange of information and the initiation of joint projects of the transportation and statistical federal agencies in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. North American Transportation in Figures, available through the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, provides comprehensive information on vehicle ownership, vehicle use, transportation networks, trade and traffic safety for Canada, Mexico and the United States, based on 1996 data. North American <u>Transportation Highlights is a summary report of this data that can be downloaded from the web</u> for free.

_<u>UN Economic Commission for Europe Annual Bulletin of transport statistics</u>_ The publication includes data on railway, road, inland waterway, maritime and intermodal transport in Europe and North America.

# _<u>Public Partnership in Highways Toolkit</u>_

This Highways Toolkit provides advice to policy makers in developing countries on the design and implementation of private participation in the highway sector. It includes a number of tools such as a library and interactive financial models. The toolkit provides a detailed guide to introducing private participation in highways, with practical tools for structuring the main contractual and financial terms. This toolkit was prepared by the World Bank and external consultants with funding from <u>Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility</u> (2002).

Visitors can access the entire toolkit online, or go directly to one of its five Sections:

- <u>Section 1: presents the rationale for private participation in the highways sector,</u> alternative options, and a guide to conducting a sector diagnostic.

- <u>Section 2: sets out the key parameters needed in the design of a public-private</u> partnerships and presents detailed case studies of well-known highway contracts.

- <u>Section 3: stresses the important role of the public sector in ensuring the success of the</u> reforms and presents the tools at government's disposal for performing such roles.

- <u>Section 4: provides guidance on the design of legal and contractual frameworks for</u> private participation in highways, with boilerplate provisions.

- <u>Section 5: outlines the key steps for introducing private sector participation, bringing</u> elements from all previous sections and distinguishing by type of private sector contract.

# _<u>World Economic Forum:  Global Competitiveness Report (GCR)</u>_

It includes an index based on quality perception for rating railroad services, port facilities and air transport services. (Ranking from 1 to 7, with 1=underdeveloped, 7=developed as the world’s best).

# _<u>World Bank: Railway Database</u>_

This database provides information on scale, output and performance for over 90 railways worldwide permitting comparisons of performance and facilitating target setting by individual 26 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________