An Analysis of the Development Factors of Rail Freight Transport in Thailand: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This work proposes a structural equation modeling approach to identify the key factors that affect sustainable rail freight transport. This provides a basis for policymakers to use those findings to develop new rail policy concepts. Research outcome brings interesting results, yet some recommendations are given for better improvement of your manuscript.

1. For some of the tables, e.g. Table 1., we don’t know which of the listed factors belong to one of the ‘Constructs’. Maybe you can place each ‘Construct’ at the head which is of the same location as its first included factor. In this way, readers will easily tell which factors describe which constructs.

2. In Table 2, if ‘Modes of Transportation’ is too long to fit in one row, you can revise it as ‘Transport modes’ or ‘Transportation modes’. And for this table, for percentage, you can put (%) behind it as ‘Percentage (%)’.

3. Table 3 is not a standard 3-line table.

4. Figure 2 is not clear, please replace with a clear picture.

5. section 6.1 ‘Theoretical implications of the resent work’, plz make sure whether it is ‘resent work’ or should be ‘recent work’.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The language is fine.

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam,

First of all, I would like to thank you so much for your dedicated time to read and comment on my manuscript. And sorry to send the revision back a bit late.

I revised and replaced the figure for your kind comments. 

"please see the attachment"

Appreciate your kindness so much.

Best regards,

Ms. Buthphorm

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Authors,

thank you for interesting article. Plese find attached some remarks.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English language requiers correction in all parts of paper (I am not a native speaker, but the text is difficult to understand)

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam,

First of all, I would like to thank you so much for your kind comments and advice on revising this manuscript.

I replaced the figure and added the key findings as well as added more literature review as per your suggestion.

 

Thank you so much for your consideration.

Best regards,

Ms. Buthphorm 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper analyzed the development factors of rail freight transportation mode utilizing Structural equation modelling approach.  This paper addresses the important factors for the sustainability of rail freight in Thailand. The findings of this study highlight several important factors which can help the development of rail freight in the country. The authors present the procedure well. The manuscript is original, and the scientific method shown in the paper is valid. I recommend the paper be published after the following aspects are better clarified, and changes are introduced to address the following points.

1.      The author should discuss more elaborately the pricing and the environmental effects or benefits of using Rail Freight.

2.      Elaborate on the statistical methods applied. Specify the statistical tests used, the rationale behind their selection, and any assumptions made during analysis.

3.      The conclusion should be revised to focus more on summarizing the findings of the study rather than providing recommendations.

4.      There are too many acronyms in the literature, which sometimes make it hard to follow. Therefore, the authors are requested to provide a list of acronyms and abbreviations.

 

5.      Check the resolution of the images. 

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam,

First of all, I would like to thank you so much for your comments and advice on this manuscript.

Kindly "see the attachment" for the response to this manuscript.

Best regards,

Ms. Buthphorm

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Please modify the keywords. Some of them are repetitive, such as ‘Rail Freight Demand’and ‘Rail Freight Traffic’. Some are unnecessary, like ‘Thailand’.

 

The full name of SEM should be given.

 

Some significant conclusions should be presented in abstract with statistics.

 

In the introduction, it is recommended to include some literatures with the new development of rail transit technology, such as [1-3].

[1] Z. Liu, et al, "Review of Perspectives on Pantograph-Catenary Interaction Research for High-Speed Railways Operating at 400 km/h and Above," in IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, doi: 10.1109/TTE.2023.3346379.

[2] Zhang, Keping, et al. "Analysis on dynamic behavior of 400 km/h high-speed train system under differential settlement of subgrade." Engineering Structures 278 (2023): 115521.

[3] Y. Song, et al, "Optimization of Railway Pantograph-Catenary Systems for Over 350 km/h Based on an Experimentally Validated Model," in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 7654-7664, May 2024, doi: 10.1109/TII.2024.3361485.

 

Some format issues should be fixed, like ‘to_identify’on the second page.

 

A schematics of the framework of the rail infrastructure is suggested to be presented.

 

Figure 1 is unclear, please make it more readable.

 

Is there any quantitative conclusions from this study?

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam,

I appreciate your suggestion about HSR technology, I try my best to add it in the introduction.

Please see the attachment for the response.

Best regards,

Buthphorm

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

All my comments have been well addressed.

Author Response

thank you for your comments