ABSTRACT Restoration of rail links to rural or isolated regions may generate wider economic impacts by improving employment accessibility. An applicable simplified index is developed based on potential job opportunities, measuring location advantage with respect to the job market. A gravity-based approach assesses the accessibility of the workforce in each location to opportunities in all other locations, where fewer or more distant opportunities provide diminishing influence. Specific issues are the practicability of commuting due to the infrequency of public transport to a limited range of destinations, and the types of job available at each location. Consequently, to reflect these effects in a more remote context, measures representing proximity and service frequency were incorporated into the index, with allowance for skills matching with a new approach in closer matching of occupations between different locations. Comparing the accessibility index by location over the intervention period highlighted those areas most impacted by infrastructure changes. Applying the rail intervention of the Stirling-Alloa line as a case study illustrated that not accounting for local job skills matching tends to overestimate the attraction factor of job opportunities, and the wider difference when the job index is based on generalised cost suggests that generalised cost of travel including the value of time is more of an impediment than actual travelling time.

中文翻译：

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用于评估偏远地区就业影响的工作可及性指数现已恢复到铁路网络

摘要 通过改善就业机会，恢复通往农村或偏远地区的铁路连接可能会产生更广泛的经济影响。一个适用的简化指数是根据潜在的工作机会制定的，衡量相对于就业市场的位置优势。基于重力的方法评估每个地点的劳动力对所有其他地点的机会的可及性，在这些地点，较少或较远的机会提供的影响越来越小。具体问题是由于前往有限范围的目的地的公共交通不频繁而导致的通勤实用性，以及每个地点可用的工作类型。因此，为了在更偏远的环境中反映这些影响，代表邻近度和服务频率的措施被纳入指数，允许技能匹配，并采用新方法在不同地点之间更紧密地匹配职业。比较干预期间按位置划分的可达性指数突出显示了受基础设施变化影响最大的区域。以斯特灵-阿洛亚线的铁路干预为例，说明不考虑当地工作技能匹配往往会高估工作机会的吸引力因素，而就业指数基于广义成本时的更大差异表明广义成本包括时间价值在内的旅行的价值比实际旅行时间更像是一个障碍。比较干预期间按位置划分的可达性指数突出显示了受基础设施变化影响最大的区域。以斯特灵-阿洛亚线的铁路干预为例，说明不考虑当地工作技能匹配往往会高估工作机会的吸引力因素，而工作指数基于广义成本时的较大差异表明广义成本包括时间价值在内的旅行的价值比实际旅行时间更像是一个障碍。比较干预期间按位置划分的可达性指数突出显示了受基础设施变化影响最大的区域。以斯特灵-阿洛亚线的铁路干预为例，说明不考虑当地工作技能匹配往往会高估工作机会的吸引力因素，而就业指数基于广义成本时的更大差异表明广义成本包括时间价值在内的旅行的价值比实际旅行时间更像是一个障碍。