Group decision making process for early stage evaluations of infrastructure projects using extended VIKOR method under fuzzy environment

Abstract

Purpose: This paper considers the evaluations of project alternatives at the early stages of infrastructure project developments. Although it is expected to make important decisions at project early stages, it is rarely possible to obtain reliable data for exact evaluations. To deal with low quality data and the existence of uncertainties, this paper extends the evaluation problem to the fuzzy environment. Methods: We propose group decision making process for early stage evaluations of infrastructure projects. The evaluation approach utilizes combination weighting and compromise ranking. We integrate subjective and objective weighting methods to specify criteria weights. Afterwards, we use the VIKOR method to rank alternatives in the presence of conflicting criteria. Results: As a case study, we illustrate the evaluation problem within a railway line reconstruction project. Specifically, the proposed approach is efficiently applied to evaluate and rank several route alternatives considered within the reconstruction project of the regional line Pančevo-Vršac at Serbian railway network. Conclusions: The provided example illustrates the applicability of the proposed approach to deal with the evaluations at the early stage of the railway line reconstruction. The existence of uncertainties at early stages of project developments is common, so the proposed method is also applicable for other linear infrastructure in transport sector.

Typology Selection of Retaining Walls Based on Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods

“…Therefore, the VIKOR method is suitable for solving decision-making problems with conflicted and noncommensurable criteria (which means, with different units) or when there are quantitative and qualitative criteria. The VIKOR method has been applied on many occasions for selection of alternatives in infrastructures, as reflected in the literature [36][37][38][39][40]. For normalization, converting the criteria into dimensional variables, a linear function is used in the VIKOR method that does not depend on a function of value of criteria as in the case of TOPSIS method [21].…”

A Fuzzy Group Decision Making for a Rail-Road Transshipment Yard Micro Locaton Problem

“…The program package VIKOR, based on compromise programming, has been developed by Opricović [3,4] for the multicriteria ranking of alternative solutions. The use of VIKOR method for the evaluation of railway infrastructure alternatives was proposed in papers [5,6].…”

“…The final results of appropriate decisions on these problems reflect in the reduction of container transhipment costs. Decision problems in the aspect of layout design and operational process have been discussed in papers [1][2]. In contrast to the previous research, this paper considers the location problem of a rail-road transhipment yard.…”

A Multi-criteria Assessment Approach for the Evaluation of Railway Transport in the Balkan Region

“…Comprehensive reviews of the use of the VIKOR method could be found in [12]; and of the use of the PROMETHEE method in [13]. The VICOR method is employed for transport research of the railway route selection, and the assessment of infrastructure design projects, [14]; the selection of the forklift unit for warehouse operation, [15]; in maritime transportation industry, [16]; for evaluation of infrastructure railway project, [17]. The WASPAS method is used for the evaluation of potential locations for roundabout construction, [18]; the examples of different applications, [19].…”