Sustainable mass transportation in southwest Iceland: drivers and barriers to train and rail development

• Main Author: David Benjamin Plotkin 1992-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2025
• Subjects: Umhverfis- og auðlindafræði; Lestir (farartæki); Samgöngur; Sjálfbærni; Reykjavík; The Corridor; Keflavík; Keflavík International Airport; Iceland
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1946/49382

The multifaceted impacts on environmental, social, and economic outcomes from the transportation sector are highly relevant to the field of sustainable development. Despite its low population, Iceland faces similar challenges in regard to achieving sustainability in its transportation sector as other developed nations. The corridor between Keflavík International Airport and downtown Reykjavík sees large demand due to linking two population centers as well as serving as the gateway to the country for nearly all international visitors. This thesis uses a scenario-based approach to analyze the drivers and barriers to the potential development of a train linking the two areas and answer three main research questions: 1) How do Icelandic stakeholders perceive, define, and conceptualize sustainable transportation in Iceland? 2) What are the sustainability implications of a train linking Keflavík International Airport and downtown Reykjavík? 3) What are the drivers and barriers to such a development? Stakeholder mapping was carried out to identify high-level stakeholders and a total of fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted. The qualitative data were analyzed and sorted into environmental, social, economic, and efficacy themes for the definition of sustainable transportation, sustainability implications, and drivers and barriers to the train’s development. Icelandic stakeholders largely agreed that a train development would lead to the most sustainable outcomes compared to a Business-as-Usual scenario, as it would decrease reliance on personal automobiles and increase economic opportunities in the two areas by linking them closely through transportation. Common criticisms included overly focusing on tourists and locals being less able to access the train compared to alternatives. However, there was little consensus on such proposals, and therefore two meta-barriers are proposed: lack of stakeholder collaboration and lack of interest among policy makers, elected officials, and institutional financiers. The ...