Engineering Urban Mobility: A Strategic Framework for Tram Route Design

Purpose This study aims to determine the most suitable tram route among three alternative alignments in Aksaray city by employing an integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The study further examines the consistency and robustness of the selected route through sensitivity analysis. Material and Methods The research methodology integrates AHP and TOPSIS to evaluate alternatives using six decision criteria: population density, route length, estimated construction cost, accessibility to important urban functions, traffic congestion level, and number of road intersections. Criteria weights were derived from expert judgments via pairwise comparisons (AHP), and the final ranking of routes was obtained using TOPSIS. A sensitivity analysis was conducted by altering weight configurations to assess the stability of the ranking. Findings The results indicate that Route II exhibited the highest relative closeness to the ideal solution under the initial AHP-TOPSIS configuration. However, sensitivity analysis showed that Route I emerged as optimal in five out of seven weight scenarios, suggesting a competitive balance between the first two alternatives. Overall, population served, traffic congestion, and cost criteria emerged as the most influential factors in route selection. Practical Implications The integrated approach provides a replicable decision-making framework for urban rail planning under limited spatial and economic resources. The findings highlight the need to account for both technical and spatial constraints while designing cost-efficient and demand-sensitive tram systems. Originality This study contributes to the growing literature on hybrid MCDM methods in transportation planning by incorporating spatial performance indicators and validating results through scenario-based sensitivity analysis. It also presents a practical case from a mid-sized Anatolian city where such methodologies are underutilized.