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Infrastructure

01.10.2021

Infrastructure
Infrastructure in transport is a term that has been in use in the Polish language for many years. The word was taken from English and plays an extremely important role in widely understood logistics. For this reason, this definition could not be missing from our lexicon, in which we explain in detail what infrastructure is, what exactly it covers, how it is divided and what functions it performs. It is also worth knowing that infrastructure as a service is characterised by a set of features which have a very significant and direct influence on the entire transport policy - importantly, it is considered in three aspects: economic, technical and organisational.

Basic division of infrastructure
Infrastructure in Poland, as in the rest of the world, is divided into the physical, which consists of all roads, bridges, airports, ports, canals, railway tracks, general-purpose buildings, communications and IT equipment and transshipment stations. In addition, it also includes sewage, water and energy networks, as well as the elements that make up the land development. Infrastructure can also be divided into population, which includes all systems and facilities that influence people's skills and cultural level, condition, activity and ability to solve problems. The types of infrastructure also include institutional infrastructure, which includes systems designed for the self-organisation of the population - administrative, scientific and research, insurance and banking systems.

Division of infrastructure according to key aspects
As we mentioned in the introduction, infrastructure is considered from three aspects. The first is the technical aspect, which includes technical indivisibility, which is characterised by a high share of transport in the outlay on the economy, which is of great importance primarily for underdeveloped countries. The long period of construction of infrastructure facilities and the long lifespan often exceeding 100 years makes it extremely important during the continuous development of infrastructure to update existing plans in order to minimise the occurrence of any errors. In addition, the technical aspects of transport infrastructure include the lack of import possibilities.

Turning to the economic aspects, it is worth mentioning the high asset- and capital-intensity and the steep rise in costs. However, large-scale benefits and public financing of infrastructure are also important. Organisational aspects include international coordination and central planning.

Individual functions of infrastructure

The most important functions of infrastructure include:

  • locational - represents an important factor in the location of the broadly defined production system,
  • locational - guarantees the possibility of the formation and development of settlements
  • spatial - creates spatial systems,
  • acceleration - activates local and regional development
  • transport - makes it possible to overcome distances and ensures transport of cargo,
  • services - satisfying the demand for services in various sectors,
  • integrative - is responsible for forming social, spatial, economic, economic and informational ties in regional systems.

Classification of infrastructure according to branches

  • Road transport infrastructure - roads (national, voivodeship, communal, district and access roads) and equipment in the form of bridges, tunnels, roundabouts, embankments and culverts, as well as stations, bus stands, stops, bays and pedestrian walkways. In addition, warehouses, loading ramps, weighing and lifting facilities and loading bays can be included in this group.
  • Rail transport infrastructure - rail roads with culverts, bridges, tunnels, catenaries, communication and control points. In addition, this infrastructure includes railway stations and stops, platforms, access routes, loading areas and information facilities.
  • Water transport infrastructure - fairways, seaports, jetties, breakwaters.
  • Air transport infrastructure - airways, airports, ports, airstrips, passenger and freight hubs.

 

Infrastructure as a service
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is one type of cloud service model in which all computing and resources are hosted in the cloud. This type of service is used to move some or all of the infrastructure it performs, where it becomes owned and managed by the cloud provider. Such a solution may include storage devices, network and computer hardware, as well as its components and software. Using infrastructure as a service, the company renting resources paying for them has at its disposal computing power or storage, which it uses and consumes when necessary. This model reduces the time and cost of providing environments for testing, programming or production, and allows companies to scale the infrastructure up or down. In addition, the solution gives companies access to newer and sometimes better hardware and innovative services.

 

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Infrastructure