The Use of Multi-Criteria Spatial Analysis in Planning Tramway Route Alignment: The Case of Lublin

Abstract

Planning rail transport alignments requires balancing numerous, often competing conditions – technical, demographic, and functional. This paper presents a multi-criteria spatial analysis methodology for identifying corridors with the highest potential for a tramway alignment and illustrates its application to Lublin, the largest city in eastern Poland without rail-based public transport. The analysis covered 5,562 road sections totalling 426.8 km. Seven criteria were adopted: longitudinal terrain slope, minimum horizontal curve radius, carriageway width, population density derived by dasymetric mapping, accessibility of trip generators, distance to existing stops, and proximity to power supply infrastructure. Criteria weights were derived using the Analytic Hierarchy Process, yielding a consistency ratio of CR = 0.010. Route alignments were determined as least-cost paths in a network where the traversal cost of each section is inversely proportional to its score. Three weight sets produced variants between 12.2 and 13.9 km in length, serving from 16.8 to 22.3% of the city population within a ten-minute walking distance. All variants share a common section in the city centre, indicating a corridor whose potential is independent of the adopted planning priority.