Estimating the Demand Function of Gasoline in Iran's Railway

Nowadays, transportation is considered as one of the most important fields of public services in any country. The more developed a country is, the more equipped is with an advanced and efficient vehicles transportation system. Accordingly, this leads to fuel-efficient use in general. Therefore, there is a strong relationship between the economic growth and the development of transportation system. The suitability of rail transport for the substantial transport market for high valued goods is limited by, among other things, the extension of the railway network and the high costs of shunting wagons into private sidings. The high fixed terminal costs and the low variable haulage costs make railways particularly suitable for large-scale transport of heavy goods over long distances. Railroads are more energy efficient than motor carriers, even when measured in terms of consumption per Ton-Km. In addition to being more energy-efficient, railroads cause less damage to the environment than trucks do. Railroads are therefore able to move large amounts of freight with less energy and less harm to the environment, compared to road vehicles. In this study, the significance of the estimate value of gasoline's demand function in the railways of our country from 1355 to 1386 is investigated to promote the utilization, the sensible exploitation of resources in the best way possible, the lifestyle of people, and reservation and protection of the energy resources for prospective use. The data are analyzed through the econometric (OLS) procedure, with reliance on the regression analysis, Excel and Eviews softwares. Based on the obtained results, the real price variable of the gasoline is not statistically significant (level of significant 0/27), also one percent increase in transported passengers leads to 0/13 growth in gasoline usage in railway sector at the same period of time.