Abstract

Hub-and-Spoke Model for Intermodal Transfer in a Freight Network
Track: Transportation
Author(s): Colin Murphy, Karl Korfmacher, James Winebrake

This project continues the work described by Falzarano et al. at last year's conference. The Geographic Intermodal Freight Transport (GIFT) model allows optimization of freight routes and examination of environmental trade-offs associated with different modes of freight shipment. Our previous freight network approximated intermodal connections as a set of arcs connecting endpoints of transport modes (road, rail and water) in the vicinity of intermodal transfer facilities. This schema suffered from inaccuracies in describing freight behavior at the origin and destination of routes. We shifted from modeling facilities as intermodal arcs to modeling facilities as a node with an arc connecting to each transport mode, in hub-and-spoke fashion. This addresses the problem of arbitrary mode selection at freight origins and improves overall flexibility for modeling a variety of phenomena expected during freight transport. Additionally, this paper will report on progress towards creation of a GIS based Geographic Intermodal Freight Transport model.

Colin Murphy
Department of Science, Technology and Public Policy
310 Exchange Blvd ##326
Rochester , New York 14608
United States
Phone: 415-730-1501
E-mail: cwm6445@rit.edu

Karl Korfmacher
Rochester Institute of Technology
Department of Biological Sciences
Environmental Science Program
Rochester , New York 14623-5603
United States
Phone: 585-475-5554
Fax: 585-475-5000
E-mail: kfkscl@rit.edu

James Winebrake
Department of Science, Technology and Public Policy
1356 Eastman Building
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester , New York 14623
United States
Phone: 585-475-4648
E-mail: jjwgpt@rit.edu