Urban freight intermodal transport: an analogue theory using electrical circuits

Container Seaports co-located with populations in Australian cities generate and attract inexorable, increasing discrete- diffuse flows which lead to landside access constraints and conflicts. Network models in freight transport are deficient in addressing demand management initiatives to ecologically re-structure the landside container freight task. Conventional freight planning stages road building and port expansion to facilitate mobility and container storage, and a vicious, inefficient cycle ensues. The miss-specification of modelling and planning frameworks is due to a conceptualisation of node impedance as a constraint phenomenon rather than as a necessary measure of precision. This thesis pioneers an activity-based approach to theoretically support investigations towards the adoption of urban freight intermodalism. A necessary signature of true transhipment- consolidation network formulations is the capture of service generation and inter-temporal storage mechanisms. Intermodal terminals offer a means to retrofit existing road-rail networks so that modes interface and deliver consolidation and accessibility outcomes. The essences captured are the changing value proposition and precision relations necessary to harmonise terminal complex activity with rail operating forms. Analytical relations are proposed using electrical circuit and process control theories to represent impedance relations based on new flux variables and sparse system parameters. This transhipment calculus allows for precision specifications to be measured according to novel “Figures of Merit” which assess storage-handling and throughput trade-offs. To show potential model applications case studies are presented of alternate system formats in Waste transportation and the management of Seaport-Hinterland conflicts. Attributes of Hinterland Absorptive Capability illustrated include rail sidings activation and bi-modal overflow to support terminal space management. Resulting design criteria indicate node impedance requirements to deliver dispatch rail payloads. The contribution made in this thesis is a new measure of impedance which allows for the investigation of utilisation of the terminal and its network. The thesis outlines an authentic freight intermodal science to be developed for sketch-planning satellite intermodal functions. The model framework demonstrates complex bundling initiatives and acts as a load following mechanism for coordination of the freight task. This leads to future research to address the multi-modal, multi-commodity, flow problem. Overall, the thesis contributes to measuring the effectiveness of transport infrastructure stock by modelling terminal retrofit leverage options.