Estimation of network level benefits of reliability improvements in intermodal freight transport

An important problem in the assessment of reliability benefits of transport projects is that link level improvements must be translated to network level, so that they can be economically valued based on users’ trips from origins to destinations. For intermodal transport, shipments follow a chain with more than one mode. Generally, this requires aggregation of travel time distributions that are not additive. The authors propose an approach that estimates the change in transport time reliability of an intermodal transport chain based on the changes for links of that chain. The authors demonstrate the framework of reliability assessment for a case study of network improvement for rail-truck intermodal transport in China. Also, the authors demonstrate the application in a cost-benefit analysis context with user valuations of transport reliabilities from the case at hand. The application leads to the result that projects for the renovation and expansion of the transshipment terminal perform better compared with project that improve rail haulage speed. Another finding is that the effect of reliability improvement projects can be super-additive at network level. In comparison with traditional methods, the authors conclude that the proposed method can better estimate transport time reliability benefits when the distribution of link travel times is highly skewed. Also, it opens new possibilities for further research for measuring correlated reliability measures within networks and for performing network resilience analysis.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2018.09.002
• Record URL:
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885917303311
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/07398859
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Zhang, Rong
  • Jian, Wenliang
  • 0000-0002-7423-8260
  • Tavasszy, Lóránt
• Publication Date: 2018-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1-8
• Serial:
  • Research in Transportation Economics
  • Volume: 70
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0739-8859
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07398859

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Case studies; Freight transportation; Intermodal transportation; Mode choice; Networks; Performance measurement; Railroad transportation; Trucking
• Uncontrolled Terms: Network design
• Geographic Terms: China
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Motor Carriers; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01683607
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 18 2018 10:13AM