APPLICATION OF MATHEMATICAL PROGRAMMING TO THE RAILROAD FREIGHT CAR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM

The assignment of empty railroad freight cars presents a complex transhipment problem presently handled by most railroads on a decentralized basis. Empty cars are spread across the system by "tide" rules, and the ultimate car-order match decisions are made by the local agent. A sophisticated resource allocation technology evolved from development of large scale military personnel assignment models provided the approach. The problem formulation exploits highly efficient primal dual network flow algorithms capable of solving nonlinear as well as multiple objective problems. Sample results using actual data from the Southern Pacific Railroad will conclude the presentation.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • For further information write in care of the author.
• Corporate Authors:

  Logistics Research Conference

  George Washington University
  Washington, DC  United States  20006
• Authors:
  • Hatch, R S
• Publication Date: 1974

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Car distribution (Railroads); Car utilization (Railroads); Computer models; Computer programs; Freight service; Information systems
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Freight Transportation; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00054728
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Logistics Research Conference
• Report/Paper Numbers: Paper
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 24 1976 12:00AM