Study on Potential Capacity of Road-rail Freight Network

Computation of transportation capacity of the multimodal freight transportation network is the key foundation of multimodal transportation strategy formulation.In this paper,recent researches on multimodal transportation network capacity computations are reviewed.Based on characteristics of the multimodal freight transportation network,the concept of multimodal freight transportation network potential capacity is analyzed,and generalized costs of the road-rail transportation network are proposed.Based on elasticity of expanded flow between OD pairs and the minimal path generalized transportation costs,and standing on the view of system optimum flow assignment point with variable demands,a potential capacity determined model is formulated for the road-rail freight transportation network,as well as its solution algorithm,which is an advanced direction search approach.A numerical case with a simple road-rail freight network is used to demonstrate the feasibility and practical value of the proposed model.This method of computing potential transportation capacity might provide essential methodology to deepen the transportation capacity analysis for the road-rail freight network.