Rail Freight Operations Research Articles

Human performance in the rail freight yard

Human performance in the rail freight yard has been identified as a source of risk for rail freight operations. This is both within the yard itself, and also with train preparation issues leading to incidents on the network. The rail freight yard is an area that has received limited research attention. Over 30 hours of observations were conducted at five major freight yards in Great Britain, along with 30 interviews of rail freight ground staff. Task models, human performance factors and potential solutions that were further explored in a workshop with freight personnel. This analysis led to an understanding of freight yard activities, the impact of freight yard design and environment, and the role external pressures on freight yard performance including upstream planning. The implications are discussed for both current freight operations, and for future technology and process change within the rail freight sector.

Fuzzy Logic as a Decision-Making Tool for Transport Request Selection

In the competitive transport industry, carriers strive to deliver quality service while meeting the diverse needs of their customers and their own unique characteristics. Few rail freight operators use the tools available to help them make the right decisions about what is profitable and what is not. Evaluating individual transport requests and making the right choices can lead to better service and improved profitability. To efficiently evaluate individual transport requests and make informed decisions, this paper proposes the use of fuzzy logic can be used. The paper considers 6 real transport requests and evaluates them using fuzzy logic.

A Study on Freight Forwarders’s Function with Reference to Maxxpress Logistics Pvt Ltd.,

Freight forwarders typically arrange cargo movement to an international destination. Also referred to as international freight forwarders, they have the expertise that allows them to prepare and process the documentation and perform related activities pertaining to international shipments. Some of the typical information reviewed by a freight forwarder is the commercial invoice, shipper's export declaration, bill of lading and other documents required by the carrier or country of export, import, or transhipment. Much of this information is now processed in a paperless environment. A freight forwarder organizes the safe, efficient movement of goods on behalf of an exporter, importer or another company or person, sometimes including dealing with packing and storage. Taking into account the type of goods and the customers' delivery requirements, freight forwarders arrange the best means of transport, using the services of shipping lines, airlines or road and rail freight operators. In some cases, the freight forwarding company itself provides the service. Companies vary in size and type, from those operating on a national and international basis to smaller, more specialized firms, who deal with particular types of goods or operate within particular geographical areas.

Rail Freight Can Go Electric

Nearly all UK rail freight operations could be electrified by the mid-2040s, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT(UK)) has revealed.

Integration of rail freight with dry ports: A route for seaport regionalisation

Due to economic and geographical causes, the reformation of rail freight transport is now in progress in a number of countries. Railroads are ideal for moving huge quantities of non-bulk, specialised, and bulk cargo. Malaysia's rail network has developed in comparison to other modes. However, its administration and contributions are little researched and frequently unclear in the current literature. In this country, rail is mostly used for passenger transportation, and the amount of rail freight in maritime trade is negligible compared to road freight. This scenario affects the efficacy of inter-regional and intra-regional freight delivery, diminishes the competitiveness of seaports, creates a monopoly for road freight transport, and depletes road infrastructure for extensively facilitated road freight transit. This article focuses on investigating concerns about existing rail freight transport and its improvement methods, the influence of rail freight transport on seaport competitiveness, and the relationship between rail freight transport and seaport dwell time. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to achieve the goals of this work. Approximately forty (40) Malaysian rail operators, their clients, and multimodal transport operators participated in the online survey. The findings indicate that the primary challenges with the Malaysian rail system are performance, transit time reliability, and capacity use. Improving the rail infrastructure will have a good impact on the service dependability, freight distribution, and operation management of a seaport. By enforcing institutional integration, expanding infrastructure support systems, and successfully managing infrastructure maintenance, the rail system may be enhanced. By synchronising seaport operation, efficiency, management, and container rotation, rail freight operations can enhance seaport transit time. To maintain trade competitiveness and provide a balanced freight distribution network, the role of rail freight must be increased.

Getting freight trains back on track–How railway undertakings, infrastructure owners and regulators can navigate the main dilemmas in freight business to drive sustainable growth

Rail freight reportedly makes for an environmentally friendly means of transport. It also has significant potential for making a lucrative business, a stark contrast to rail passenger transport. Yet in Europe rail freight has long been displaced over its road equivalent and grown at rates inferior to overall land goods freight. Sustainable, profitable rail freight operations depend not only on goods volume, travel distance and pricing, but further on other key aspects permeating goods transportation by rail. Our research demonstrates that the choice for railway undertakings, infrastructure owners, and regulators alike, is in practice a complex one as depending on many, often competing factors. In fact, the key questions usually raised v.a.v. rail freight operations may be summed up to the following: (a) Mixed passenger and freight train operation or dedicated train corridors? (b) Conventional or heavy axle loads for freight trains? (c) Unitized wagonload or integrated trainload services? (d) Dangerous goods land shipping by rail or road? (e) Autonomous or manned freight train operation? Despite many individual contributions in the field, there is currently no single framework addressing the problem holistically. This paper breaks down what is seemingly a hard-to-balance decision-making process for rail freight players. It records and analyzes the forces and dynamics behind the dilemmas above and allows to: provide those partaking in the decision-making process with a robust framework identifying the key drivers behind sustainable rail freight growth; help them individually and collectively make more sound decisions regarding rail operations as a whole–including, in particular, strategic decisions regarding policy and/or investment; and, eventually, to enable them to craft and pursue viable, sustainable transport and business strategies. The research is underpinned by literature data review.

Framework Proposal for Solving Problems in Railway Transport During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on rail transport in the EU. The slowdown in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has been achieved by reducing the mobility of the population. The reduction in mobility has had an impact on passenger transport performance. The number of national rail passengers fell by as much as 90% during the first wave of the pandemic compared to the previous year. Several operators, especially new carriers, had to close down, while rail freight operators reported a dramatic drop in volumes as many sectors slowed or even stopped production as a result of the pandemic. The second wave of the autumn 2020 pandemic has forced many countries to take further restrictive measures regarding population mobility. The outbreak of the third wave of the pandemic has prevented a rapid recovery in rail transport, especially for passenger rail services. The paper focuses on the analysis of the impact of the pandemic and the measures put in place on the development of transport performance in rail transport in the Slovak Republic during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper proposes operational and organizational measures against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in railway transport in the Slovak Republic.

The indirect economic impact of rail freight transport: An input–output case study for Belgium

The modal share of rail freight transport has shown little movement during the past years, despite the policy efforts made. This raises the question if intermodality should be really considered a strength for rail freight transport development. In order to make a strong case for future development decisions on rail freight transport, this paper is studying its direct and indirect economic impact on the Belgian national economy. It adapts the existing input–output methodology by distilling the rail freight sector from the existing general combined ‘public and freight land transport sector’ within the national calculations of the Belgian input–output table, performed by the Federal Planning Office every five years. The methodology is developed by adopting a set of assumptions, necessary to overcome data limitations, and with the collection of relevant customer and supplier data from the largest Belgian rail freight operator, holding a market share of over 85%. The outcome of the research is an adapted input–output table with a detailed 'rail freight transport' sector, highlighting the different economic relationships with the original sectors of the national input–output table. It is no surprise that strong links with other transportation sectors exist. In addition, a Leontief multiplier is calculated, approximating the total economic effect in terms of monetary units, when the output demand in the investigated rail freight sector is increased by one of this monetary unit. The study reveals a potentially high total effect on the national economy.

The Effects of The Tanzanian Railway Network in the Performance of the Rail Freight Operations

The railway is the fundamental means of transport, especially for freight. It has a substantial contribution to the sustainable economy of the country and the region at large. However, some factors have been affecting the performance of rail operations; especially for freight, to the extent of reducing the modal share from rail to roads. This has been resulting in high road maintenance costs and underutilization of the available capacity in the railway. This research has studied the factors affecting the Tanzanian railway network in the performance of rail freight operations. The focus was on the corridor from Dar es Salaam to Isaka because it serves most of the landlocked countries such as Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, and Eastern DRC. The study used the Performance Measurement theory with the Balanced Scorecard model. Data analysis was done by the Linear Regression statistical method with the aid of SPSS version 20. The results of the study show that derailments, washouts, and rail freight wagons maintenance capacity directly affect the performance of rail freight operations. TRC, therefore, needs to strategize measures for ensuring that derailments and washouts are very much reduced. A plan for quick recovery must be in place in case a derailment or washout happens. Also, TRC should enhance its capacity for maintaining the rail freight wagons to ensure its optimal availability. Railway should be viewed as a potential area for investment because it supports the growth of other sectors as well. If constraints are minimized in the railway system; the performance of rail freight operation will be high and many customers will be attracted to use the railway as a preferred mode of transport, hence, the modal share to the railway will increase.

The added value of rail freight transport in Belgium

Rail freight transport is facing contradicting realities. Ambitious goals to stimulate this mode of land transport at the expense of the less sustainable and over congested road transport, are going hand in hand with a continuous decrease in usage and modal share statistics. As it is known that a lack of flexibility is holding back the development of this mode, this research wants to evaluate what could be the direct economic impact of rail freight transport in Belgium if these bottlenecks are resolved. By generating three economic indicators, evaluating the added value per unit of workforce, the added value per unit of production and the added value range for the incumbent rail freight operator, the productivity and efficiency of rail freight transport services in Belgium are evaluated and compared with the four main competitors. Results show that for all indicators a positive direct economic impact and an upward trend can be observed, although data collection proves to be challenging and historical data is inexistent or inconsistent due to the absence of joint cost allocation, which is clearly a point of attention for policymakers. Results also indicate that liberalization of the rail freight market is stimulating rail freight operators to improve their efficiency by rethinking their business.

Using Data Analytics & Machine Learning to Design Business Interruption Insurance Products for Rail Freight Operators

This paper discusses a case study in which publicly available data of a rail freight transportation firm has been gathered, cleansed, and analyzed in order to: (i) describe the data using statistical indicators and graphs; (ii) identify patterns regarding several Key Performance Indicators; (iii) obtain forecasts on the future evolution of these indicators; and (iv) use the identified patterns and the generated forecasts to propose customized insurance products that reflect the current and future freight transportation activity. The paper illustrates the different methodological steps required during the extraction and cleansing of the data which required the development of Python scripts, the use of time series analysis for obtaining reliable forecasts, and the use of machine learning models for designing customized insurance coverage from the identified patterns and predicted values.

Multi-criteria Evaluation of Railway Transport Using Evaluation Method

Abstract The arrival of new customers along the new Iron Silk Road also brings new transport opportunities. The liberalization of railway transport has created many wagons over the railway market throughout the EU, especially in the field of freight transport. Choosing the preferable carrier that can fit the needs of customers is challenging. Each rail freight operator currently shapes its profile by focusing on a specific group of commodities as a matter of priority. By specializing, they gain a dominant market position in their sector that helps them to maintain and expand their clientele. The article aims at bringing a decisive system with clear rules and standards for choosing the right business partner in the freight railway market. The article is designed as a case study that starts with an analysis of four different freight carriers. Other parts of the article are about the evaluation of their ability to meet the needs of a customer.

Reduction of Life-cycle Costs of Locomotives by Leaning Maintenance Process

Increasing the role of rail in balancing the transport of goods is a big challenge all over the world nowadays. Statistics clearly show a large disproportion of the volume transported by various means of inland transport where the railway business is still in the minority. One of the reasons is the cost of transported goods. It is important to know how costs affecting the final price of transported goods by rail are divided in order to reduce them. This paper presents the possibility of using life cycle costs of the product in order to take productivity to the next level and save considerable amounts of time, money, and resources. The aim of this article is to define what are Life Cycle Costs and if lean tools may be applied in transport companies. The research has been conducted over the number of years in one of the largest rail freight operator in Poland. The main goal of the investigation was to analyze costs of the diesel locomotive maintenance process in a whole lifecycle and investigate the impact of using lean tools on those costs. In this project lean tools such as: Standard Work Combination Sheet, Spaghetti diagram, Visual Management, Cause and Effect Diagram, PDCA, 5S, standardization cards were used. For better analysis Voice of the Customer and Critical to Quality tools were added. The results of this analysis are presented in this paper and prove the big impact on reducing time, improving product quality as well as integrating people, data, processes and business systems. The use of lean is deliberate because it can lead to 50% cost reduction of the P1 maintenance level on diesel locomotives with a significant reduction of working hours up to 60%. The outcome of this analysis should help the company to achieve a significant reduction in the cost of maintaining locomotives, which will contribute to a lower cost of transporting goods by rail. Keywords: lean management, life cycle costs, locomotive maintenance process

Reducing CO2 emissions through pricing, planning, and subsidizing rail freight

Modal shift from road to rail is considered a promising way to reduce CO2 emissions from the transportation industry. To promote this modal shift, a profit-maximization model that integrates two dimensions is proposed. Internally, the competitiveness of rail freight is enhanced by dynamic freight pricing, backlog controlling, and flexible dispatching. Externally, a subsidy policy is considered to stimulate rail freight. Based on Lyapunov optimization, this multi-slot global optimization problem is converted into a series of low-complexity problems that only require knowledge of the instantaneous system state. The equivalence of this transformation is proved theoretically. Then Harmony search algorithm is used to solve these low-complexity models. A case study based on the transportation network composed of five central cities in China is conducted. Compared with the application of the actual fixed rail freight rates, a CO2 emission reduction of 3261 t can be achieved with the dynamic pricing strategy. Based on jointly optimizing rail freight price and service plan, an additional subsidy of 0.1–0.6 RMB/TEU-km to rail freight operators can achieve an 23.78–25.38% MS from road to rail, as well as a 24.08–26.12% CO2 emission reduction in this service chain.

Efficiency Analysis of Russian Rail Freight Transportation Companies with Super Slack-Based Measurement Data Envelopment Analysis

We adopt a super slack-based measurement (SBM) data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to estimate the efficiency of five biggest freight rail operators in Russia, which are included in the top 30 freight rail operators in terms of two dimensions – financial and operational efficiency during 2013–2017. The result shows that the private companies characterized by high financial and operational efficiency, while the Rossiiskye Zheleznye Dorogi (RZD) subsidiaries characterized by sufficiently low financial and operational efficiency scores. And the result also presents that operational efficiency score of operators handling universal rolling stock is higher than financial efficiency scores. In contrast, financial efficiency scores of operators handling special rolling stock is higher than operational efficiency scores. rail freight operators in addition to a special rolling stock park should have a universal rolling stock park for higher profitability. State-owned companies and its subsidiary operate inefficiently in the midst of a market economy in Russia. Rail freight operators for a higher level of financial efficiency should be transferred to the private sector.

Efficiency Analysis of Russian Rail Freight Transportation Companies with Super Slack-Based Measurement Data Envelopment Analysis

We adopt a super slack-based measurement (SBM) data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to estimate the efficiency of five biggest freight rail operators in Russia, which are included in the top 30 freight rail operators in terms of two dimensions – financial and operational efficiency during 2013–2017. The result shows that the private companies characterized by high financial and operational efficiency, while the Rossiiskye Zheleznye Dorogi (RZD) subsidiaries characterized by sufficiently low financial and operational efficiency scores. And the result also presents that operational efficiency score of operators handling universal rolling stock is higher than financial efficiency scores. In contrast, financial efficiency scores of operators handling special rolling stock is higher than operational efficiency scores. rail freight operators in addition to a special rolling stock park should have a universal rolling stock park for higher profitability. State-owned companies and its subsidiary operate inefficiently in the midst of a market economy in Russia. Rail freight operators for a higher level of financial efficiency should be transferred to the private sector.

Developing the Logistics Operator Function in PKP CARGO Group Strategy

The aim of this article is to present the possibilities of developing logistics services by the PKP CARGO S.A. Group which is the largest rail freight operator in Poland and one of the largest in Europe. PKP CARGO S.A. wishes to enhance its market position, and one of the strategic goals of the company is to take up the function of a logistics operator. The company is predisposed to play this role due to its position in the market and the opportunities for its development. Moreover, it is the economy and the changing freight structure as well as the EU policy in the field of sustainable transport that are conducive to developing the function of a logistics partner.
 Nevertheless, PKP CARGO is operating in specific business, legal, infrastructural and rolling-stock conditions. This environment is not easy, in certain situations it is even a hindrance, an obstacle to the development of logistics services, none-theless, the company can see wide prospects for such business. Moreover, analysis of the European market shows that rail operators on these markets have been developing in the direction of a logistics partner.

Rail network resilience and operational responsiveness during unplanned disruption: A rail freight case study

This paper focuses on the resilience of rail freight operations when affected by extreme weather events. Such events, most likely linked to climate change, are becoming more common and it is vital to mitigate their effects on freight transport activity. Based on a British case study of rail network disruption resulting from a key line closure in early-2016, the analysis considers the impacts on rail freight service provision and the wider supply chains.Following a review of the relevant literature, the case study is analysed using data from a combination of sources including an annual rail freight database, open access real-time train running data, observation surveys and stakeholder interviews. This reveals widespread consequences of the disruption, with fewer freight trains operated than normal, and longer and less punctual journeys for those which ran. However, despite the considerable disruption during the period of the line closure itself, there has been no discernible long-term impact on the rail freight flows which were impacted by the closure. The insight provided by the analysis is used to make a series of recommendations to the rail industry and policy makers.

Implications of Field Loading Patterns on Different Tie Support Conditions using Discrete Element Modeling: Dynamic Responses

With increasing demands for rail passenger and freight operations, sharing a line or track is an economical solution if operational efficiency and track reliability challenges can be accommodated properly. This paper presents findings of ballast layer dynamic responses related to four different freight and passenger car loading patterns studied for four different tie support conditions using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). With the DEM model setup being identical for each support condition, ballast particle contact force networks were visualized first under one dynamic load cycle. Certain load transfer chains were observed associated with all four support conditions. Next, crosstie dynamic velocities were analyzed for all sixteen combinations of the different loading patterns and support conditions. The freight car loads traveling at 50 mph could induce higher crosstie vibration velocities than the lighter passenger car loads traveling at 110 mph and 150 mph in three support conditions: lack of center support, high center binding, and lack of rail seat support. Dynamic movements of ballast particles were visualized in velocity vector plots based on their initial and final centroid coordinates. Results reveal that for the same axle load, higher speeds will cause larger ballast particle movements. However, with higher load magnitudes, larger particle movements can be observed even at lower speeds. Generally, high center binding results in the smallest particle movement while lack of center support presents the largest particle movement. Dynamic load responses of the ballast layer simulations provide insights into evaluating and optimizing tracks to be shared by passenger and freight trains.

Customer segmentation strategy for rail freight market: The case of Turkish State Railways

Deregulation in rail transport sector is creating new challenges for rail freight operators due to the new competitive environment, which is characterized by strong cost pressures and high expectations of customers. The level of cost pressure and expectations of customers might vary from segment to segment of the customers. Thus, in the light of different customer needs, differentiated segment strategies should be designed to compete with the new comers. Deregulation process has just started in the Turkish rail market with the new law recently entered into force in order to comply with the EU Directives. In the process of deregulation, the rail transport service providers can use customer segmentation in order to effectively apply differentiated marketing to certain target groups. This paper examines how the incumbent rail service provider (Turkish State Railways) could segment rail freight traffic customers (shippers and forwarders) based on their perceptions and expectations to cope with intra-modal competition to be faced in the future liberalized market. Six behaviourally distinct customer segments were identified. A multi-method approach consisting of desktop research, in-depth interviews, focus group meeting and cluster analysis was applied in this study.