Railroad Service Design
This section presents analytical techniques typically utilized as a part of the development of a railroad’s operating plan. Currently, it also includes some logistics-oriented literature which focuses on the appropriate objective for railroad operating plan development.
Allen, W. Bruce and Dong Liu (1993) Service Quality and Motor Carrier Costs: An Empirical Analysis, Proceedings of the Transportation Research Forum 35, Thirty-fifth Annual Meeting, New York City, 25.
Assad, A. A. (1980) Modeling of Rail Networks: Toward a Routing/ Makeup Model, Transportation Research B 14, 101-114.
Bodin, L. D., Golden , B. L. , Schuster, A. D. and Romig, W. (1980) A Model for the Blocking of Trains, Transportation Research B 14, 115-120.
Caprara, A., Fischetti, M., Toth, P., Vigo, D. and Guida, P. L. (1997) Algorithms for railway crew management, Mathematical Programming 79 (1997) 124-141.
Crainic, T. G., Ferland, J. A. and Rousseau, J. (1984) A Tactical Planning Model for Rail Freight Transportation, Transportation Science 18 (2) 165-184.
Crainic, T. G. and Gendreau,M. (1985) Approximate Formulas for the Computation of Connection Delays Under Capacity Restrictions in Rail Freight Transportation, Center for Transportation Research, University of Montreal, Publication #438.
Crainic, T. G. and Rousseau, J. (1986) Multicommodity, Multimode Freight Transportation: A General Modeling and Algorithmic Framework for the Service Network Design Problem, Transportation Research B 20 (3) 245-242.
Crainic, T. G., Florian, M. and Leal, J. (1987) A Model for the Strategic Planning of National Freight Transportation by Rail, University of Montreal, Center for Transportation Research, Publication #518.
Dejax, P. and Bookbinder, J. H. (1991) Goods Transportation by the French National Railway (SNCF): the Measurement and Marketing of Reliability, Transportation Research A 25 (4) 219-225.
Gallagher, J. (2001) Operation Cleanup: Norfolk Southern's analysis of carload operations may be key to increasing service value, Traffic World, April 9, 2001, 42-44.
Gorman, M. F. (1995) An Application of Genetic and Tabu Searches to the Freight Railroad Operating Plan Problem, ATSF Railway, presented at the Los Angeles INFORMS session.
Gorman, M. F. (1998) An
application of genetic and tabu searches to the freight railroad
operating plan problem. Annals of Operations Research 78
(1) 51-69
Gorman, M. F. (1998) Santa Fe Railway uses an operating-plan
model to improve its service design. Interfaces 28
(4 ) 1-12 .
Haghani, A. E., (1989) Formulation and Solution of a Combined Train Routing and Makeup, and Empty Car Distribution Model, Transportation Research B 23, 433-452.
Haughton, M. A. (1995) Analytical and Spreadsheet Modeling of Railroad Scheduling, Transportation Research Forum, Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, 573-590. TRIS Abstract
Higginson, J. K. and Bookbinder, J. H. (1990) Implications of Just-In-Time Production of Rail Freight Systems, Transportation Journal, May 1990, 29 (3) 29-35. TRIS Abstract
Homer, J. B., Keane, T. E., Lukiantseva, N. O. and Bell, D. W. (199) Evaluating Strategies to Improve Railroad Performance -- A System Dynamics Approach, Proceedings of the 1999 Winter Simulation Conference, 1186-1193. Full Text PDF File
Huntley, C. L., Brown, D. E. Sappington, D. E. and Markowicz, B. P. (1993) Freight Routing and Scheduling at CSX Transportation, Working Paper, December, The Institute for Parallel Computation and the Department of Systems Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
Keaton, M. H. (1989) Designing Optimal Railroad Operating Plans: Lagrangian Relaxation and Heuristic Approaches, Transportation Research B 23, 415-431.
Keaton, M. H. (1992) Designing Railroad Operating Plans: A Dual Adjustment Method for Implementing Lagrangian Relaxation, Transportation Science 26 (4) 263.
Keaton, M. H. (1991) Service-Cost Tradeoffs for Carload Freight Traffic in the U.S. Rail Industry, Transportation Research A 25 (6) 363.
Keaton, M. H. (1992) The Impact of Train Timetables on Average Car Time in Rail Classification Yards, Journal of the Transportation Research Forum 32 (2) 345-354.
Keaton, M. H. (1994) Economies of Density and the Structure of the Less-than-Truckload Motor Carrier Industry Since Deregulation, Proceedings of the Transportation Research Forum Daytona Beach meeting (1), 59-74.
Kornhauser, A. L and Mayewski, P. (1983) A Heuristic Approach to the Generation of Network Oriented Blocking Plans for Railroad Operations, Proceedings of the 24th Annual Meeting, Transportation Research Forum (2) 162.
Kraft, E. R. (1992) Car Cycle Analysis and Network Modeling at CSX Transportation: Using the "QBase" file, Proceedings of the Transportation Research Forum Daytona Beach Meeting.
Kraft, E. R. (1995) The Link Between Demand Variability and Railroad Service Reliability, Journal of the Transportation Research Forum 34 (2) 27-43. TRIS Abstract
Martland, C. D. and Little, P. (1993) Causes of Unreliable Service in North American Railroads, Proceedings of the Transportation Research Forum 35, Thirty-fifth Annual Meeting, New York City.
Martland, C. D., Little P. and Sussman, J. M. (1994) Service Management in the Railroad Industry, in Railroad Freight Transportation Research Needs, Conference Proceedings (2), of the joint AAR/FRA/TRB conference in Bethesda, Md, July 12-14, 1993, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 1994, 89-103.
Martland, C. D. and Sussman, J. M. (1995) A Perspective on Rail Systems Modelling: What Works and What Doesn't. Working Paper 95-1, Center for Transportation Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
McCarren, J. R. and Martland, C. D. (1980) The MIT Service Planning Model, Studies in Railroad Operations and Economics 31, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
McGinnis, M. (1990) The Relative Importance of Cost and Service in Freight Transportation Choice: Before and After Deregulation, Transportation Journal 30 (1) 12-19.
Mercer Management Consulting (1991) The Service Quality Challenge for the 1990s, The 5th American Railroad Conference.
Morlok, E. K. and Peterson, R. B. (1970) Railroad Freight Train Scheduling: A Mathematical Programming Formulation, Northwestern University.
Morlok, E. K. and Peterson, R. B. (1970) A Final Report on a Development of a Geographic Transportaton Network Generation and Evaluation Model, Proceedings of the Transportation Research Forum 11, 71-105. (Note this citation was published under an incorrect title -- see above)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (1992), Advanced Logistics and Road Freight Transport.
Roberts, P. O. (1975) Factors Influencing the Demand for Goods Movement, Working Paper No. 1, Center for Transportation Studies, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
Schlenker, M. A. (1995) Improving Railroad Performance Using Advanced Service Design Techniques: Analyzing the Operating Plan at CSX Transportation, M.S. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
Siddiquee, W and D'Esopo, D. A. (1977) Computer Methods in Blocking and Train Operations Strategies, Transportation Research Record 656, 45-52. TRIS Abstract
Strasser, S. (1993) The Effect of Railroad Scheduling on Shipper Modal Selection: A Simulation, Journal of Business Logistics 13 (2).
Van Dyke, C. D. (1986) The Automated Blocking Model: A Practical Approach to Freight Railroad Blocking Plan Development, Proceedings of the Transportation Research Forum 27 (1).
Van Dyke, C. D and Meketon, M. (1999) Algorithm Based Blocking Plan Analysis. Pdf download
Winston, C. (1981) A Disaggregate Model of the Demand for Intercity Freight Transportation, Econometrica 49 (4) 981-1006
Ying, J. S. and Keeler, T. E. (1991) Pricing in a Deregulated Environment: the Motor Carrier Experience, RAND Journal of Economics 22, 264-273.
Patents
Erickson, T. F., US Patent #4,883,245, Transportation System and Method of Operation, Nov. 28, 1989.
Last Updated: December 15, 2001