The High Volume Transport (HVT) Applied Research Programme is a 5-year research programme funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO UK) to strengthen the evidence base that will support increased access to transport services, more affordable trade routes, and safer, low carbon transport in low-income countries. The programme consists of two parts. Part 1 involved a review of the literature and evidence available and delivered a series of state-of-knowledge papers on the four research themes; Long Distance Road and Rail Transport; Low Carbon Transport; Urban Transport; and Gender, Inclusion, and Vulnerable Groups (including Road Safety). Part 1 confirmed the focus and scope of the primary research that is to be procured and undertaken in Part 2. A research plan was prepared based on the outcomes and findings of Part 1.

Limited research specific to strategic road and rail transport networks in LICs exist, despite large investments by national governments, donors and development banks in transport infrastructure programmes. Many African and Asian countries apply standards and specifications for road and rail infrastructure that are out of date and do not take account of advances in knowledge and evidence leading to costly over- or under-design. Climate change is already threatening vital infrastructure. Meeting the increasing demand for transport infrastructure investment comes with an increasing need to invest in asset maintenance. The Long Distance Road and Rail Transport Theme therefore considered the increasing volume of transport infrastructure assets and maintenance costs, and examines maintenance systems.

IT Transport were contracted by IMC Worldwide Ltd. (the HVT Project Management Unit) to conduct the initial Part 1 study for HVT Theme 1 – Long Distance Road and Rail Transport.

The ITT team carried out thorough literature reviews on the secondary literature available on road and rail infrastructure, transport services, and HVT corridors and networks across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia). They then presented their findings to a sample of stakeholders through deliberative workshops held in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, and Dhaka. A stakeholder engagement questionnaire was also prepared and circulated online for any potential stakeholders across the project regions that were unable to attend the workshops. The feedback provided from these stakeholder engagement activities, along with the findings of the literature review, ultimately enabled the team to produce a list of recommended research areas and topics that need to be procured in Part 2 of the programme. The team also wrote journal papers addressing some of these proposed research areas, which were ready for peer review before publishing.

You can download our State of Knowledge Final Report by clicking here.