Investigation of the Effects of Important Factors in Suburban Rail Route Determination with MCDM

Abstract Thorough evaluation of suburban rail route alternatives is essential for determining the appropriate route. Suburban lines provide transportation services to suburban areas; that is, they provide transportation services to distant points of the city where demand is high. In this study, five alternative suburban rail routes in the commuter rail standard, starting from the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge’s European exit and ending at Istanbul Airport, were determined as a sample corridor in the province of Istanbul. High-standard suburban rail routes and their infrastructure construction costs were determined, and route options were delineated according to their construction costs. Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods were examined, including the application of the decision matrix method (DMM) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to rank the routes in terms of the factors examined in the study. These routes were ranked according to the construction costs and according to the DMM and AHP methods, and the results were compared. In the decision matrix application, geomorphological-geological, geotechnical, infrastructural, and environmental factors were considered in the evaluation and determination process. A solution was developed in which all aspects were weighted to indicate their relevance, and these factors contributed to the determination of the results. The AHP method was also applied, in which five criteria were included in the evaluation: geology (including geomorphology and soil properties), engineering structures, construction costs, population values addressed by the routes, and railroad length. In addition, the distances to the active faults were examined according to the Turkey Earthquake Hazard Map specified in the Turkish Building Earthquake Code (TBDY) 2018. Depending on the factors studied, the ordering of the routes was the same for all three methods.