ROUTING AND SCHEDULING TEMPORAL AND HETEROGENEOUS FREIGHT CAR TRAFFIC ON RAIL NETWORKS

Authors

O K. Kwon
C D. Martland
J M. Sussman

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1998

Subject Area

operations - scheduling, operations - traffic, ridership - commuting, mode - rail, mode - car

Keywords

Time studies, Shipping, Routing, Railroad transportation, Rail transportation, Freight car utilization, Car utilization (Railroads)

Abstract

Freight car scheduling is taking on a more important role in rail operating plans as more shippers demand trip plan information for their procurement, production and distribution plans, and as railroads pursue operations that are better scheduled and planned. This paper presents several ways to improve current freight car scheduling practices and describes a dynamic freight car routing and scheduling model that can produce more achieveable and market-sensitive car schedules. A time-space network representation technique was used to represent car moves on possible sequences of car-to-block and block-to-train assignments on a general-merchandise rail service network. The problem was formulated as a linear multicommodity flow problem; the column generation technique was used as a solution approach.

Comments

Transportation Research Part E Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13665545

Recommended Citation

Kwon, O, Martland, C, Sussman, J, (1998). ROUTING AND SCHEDULING TEMPORAL AND HETEROGENEOUS FREIGHT CAR TRAFFIC ON RAIL NETWORKS. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Volume 34, Issue 2, p. 101-115.