The Urban Rail Development Handbook

This handbook synthesizes and disseminates knowledge to inform the planning, implementation, and operations of urban rail projects with a view towards:

1. Emphasizing the need for early studies and project planning,
2. Making projects more sustainable (economically, socially, and environmentally),
3. Improving socioeconomic returns and access to opportunities for users,
4. Maximizing the value of private participation, where appropriate, and
5. Building capacity within the institutions that implement and manage public projects.

This handbook also seeks to fill this knowledge gap in a practical way by providing experiential advice for tackling the technical, institutional, and financial challenges facing government officials and decision makers in project-implementing agencies when embarking on a new urban rail project. Rather than identify a single approach, this handbook acknowledges the complexities and localization necessary when approaching an urban rail project by helping to prepare decision makers to ask the right questions, consider the key issues, perform the necessary studies, apply adequate tools, and learn from international good practice all at the right time in the project development process.

Publication Date: 2018