Estimation of the impact of Planned Light Rail Transit On accessibility patterns

Baghdad elevated train is one of the projects that has been suggested to improve accessibility in the city. This paper is dedicated to state the impacts of the planned train line on the accessibility in the selected study area, where the train is meant to be built in to connect the major cities in the capital (Al-Karkh and Al-Risafa). The Geographical Information System (GIS) has been used to build the existing networks (highway, public transport, and the train), to analyze them by the Network analyst tool, and to create an O-D matrix between the selected districts and a direct connection between two locations. The accessibility changes have been measured by measuring the travel time difference, checking the connection between the zones, and the direct connection between six origins in Al-Risafa for different districts to one destination in Al-Karkh before and after adding the elevated train. The results showed that the train could make a remarkable change to the accessibility in the area by reducing the travel time and make a direct connection between the mentioned districts.