Enhancing the efficiency of railways by multi-use of wagons

Abstract

Russia is the main source for imported raw material in Finnish pulp and paper production. Transports from Russia are completed mainly using rails, which thus have idle capacity in the eastbound direction. In this article, we evaluate the possibility to use railway timber wagons to serve the eastbound container flow currently on roads. The analysis is based on a discrete-event system simulation model concentrating on a case network. Our research results show that combined use of wagons would enhance the efficiency of railway transports. Furthermore, the eastbound container transit flow on roads could be eliminated to a large extent.