Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

The socio-economic situation of region can be changed if major transportation system, such as railway and highway , are installed. From the view point of the transpotation planner, it is necessary to know how transportation fac ilities will change the region. The new railway , namely North Link Railway, began the operation in 1980. The travel time between Taipei and Eastern Taiwan become very shorter by the rail. A model was d e ve loped to explore the impact on regional growth and interregional transportation, This model had two models, namely the r egional growth model and the interr egional travel demand model. These models used the indices, such as regional population, employment , pe rsonal income, travel demand and travel time between regions. It was found that a s hort travel time attributed to a improvement in transportation facility was influential on regional growth. Consequently , with the achie ve me nt of t h e regional growth, the traffic volume between r egi ons was also ch a nged . This study was focused on the analysis of r egion a l economic and demographic development as well as interregional travel demand . And as an application of this model, it was appli ed to the pLediction for the regional growth of population, employment, and i n come in the East of Taiwan .