A model for medium-term operations planning in an intermodal rail-truck service

Should we keep on renaming a +35-year-old baby?

“…United Nations (UNCTAD, 1980) [International multi-modal is] the carriage of goods by at least two different modes of transport on the basis of a multimodal transport contract from a place in one country at which the goods are taken in charge by the multimodal transport operator to a designated place for delivery in a different country Joint definition by ECMT, United Nations and European Commission (UNECE, 2001) The carriage of goods by two or more modes of transport Intermodal transport Hayuth (1987) The movement of cargo from shipper to consignee using two or more different modes under a single rate, with through billing and through liability Muller (1995) The co-ordinated transport of goods in containers or trailers by a combination of truck and rail, with or without an ocean-going link (Muller, 1995) Min (1991 The movement of products from origin to destination using a mixture of various transport modes such as air, ocean lines, barge, rail, and truck Harper and Evers (1993) One or more motor carriers provide the short-haul pickup and delivery service (drayage) segment of the trip and one or more railroads provide the long-haul or line haul segment Evers (1994) The movement of truck trailers/containers by both railroads and motor carriers during a single shipment (continued on next page) Este (1996) A technical, legal, commercial and management framework for moving goods from door-to door using more than one mode of transport Jennings and Holcomb (1996) A technical, legal, commercial, and management framework for moving goods door-to-door using more than one mode of transport Niérat (1997) A service in which rail and truck services are combined to complete a door-to-door movement Nozick and Morlok (1997) The movement of trucks and containers on railcars between terminals, with transport by truck at each end European Commission (1997) Transport system that allows at least two different modes to be used in an integrated manner in a door-to-door transport chain. Intermodality is a quality indicator of the level of integration between the different modes: more intermodality means more integration and complementarity between modes, which provides scope for a more efficient use of the transport system Transportation Research Board (1998) Transport of goods in containers that can be moved on land by rail or truck and on water by ship or barge.…”

On Transport Service Selection in Intermodal Rail/Road Distribution Networks

“…Obviously, the more shipment volume is allocated to a certain terminal, the better a network operator can consolidate the inbound and outbound transport operations. At the tactical level, network operators have to decide about the frequency of a service, the assignment of equipment and capacity to services, the lengths of trains, and the like (Nozick and Morlok 1997). These decisions basically influence the cost contribution of the rail carriage in the intermodal transport and thus have a strong impact on competitiveness.…”

Simulation and optimisation of intermodal barge transport networks

“…This involves decisions about frequency of service, train length, allocation of equipment to routes and capacity planning of equipment. Nozick and Morlok (1997) study a medium-term operations planning problem in an intermodal rail-truck system. The authors develop a modelling framework to plan various elements of rail-truck intermodal operations simultaneously.…”