Breakthrough innovations in intermodal freight transport

Breakthrough innovations, whether technological, organizational or both, are a necessity if the market share of intermodal freight transport is to expand. The main growth potential lies in the markets for flows over short distances, for perishable and high-value commodities, for small consignments, and for flows that demand speed, reliability and flexibility. It will take radical innovations to produce a breakthrough in the modal split and allow these new markets to be conquered. This special issue is based on papers presented at an international conference on freight transport automation and multimodality, held in Delft in May 2002, that are illustrative of the direction of breakthrough research and development (R&D) aimed at increasing the market share for intermodal transport.     

Discussions on rail in urban areas and rail history

This paper includes discussions on rail in urban areas and railway history. More specifically commonly used terms and definitions for rail services, policy and practice in urban areas are discussed followed by an overview of railway developments around the world.     

综合运输通道耗散结构分析

基于各种运输方式的技术经济特征和交通运输业可持续发展理念,借助于耗散结构理论,研究综合运输通道是一个具有耗散结构特性的开放系统。通过对综合运输通道结构的分析,实现综合运输通道内各种运输方式的协调发展,合理竞争;满足人们出行与货运需求;不断完善和提高各种运输方式适应环境的能力,实现通道内外的和谐可持续发展。     

高速公路客运发展研究

近年来,高速公路客运随着高速公路的快速增长而迅速发展,其拥有安全、快捷、舒适、优质服务等特点,但也面临着客运站建设落后、运力结构不合理、运力与运量不平衡等问题,研究高速公路客运的发展措施对于指导实际工作有一定的意义。     

The use of demand correlation in the modeling of air carrier departure delays as first‐order autoregressive random processes

A method for modeling air carrier departure delays at commercial‐service airports as autoregressive random processes is presented. This method employs the correlation of a priori demand data to significantly reduce prediction error in the optimal least‐squares estimator for additive white noise. The reduction factor of the prediction error is demonstrated to be on the order of 10² over that of the unbiased estimator. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

User perspectives in public transport timetable optimisation

The present paper deals with timetable optimisation from the perspective of minimising the waiting time experienced by passengers when transferring either to or from a bus. Due to its inherent complexity, this bi-level minimisation problem is extremely difficult to solve mathematically, since timetable optimisation is a non-linear non-convex mixed integer problem, with passenger flows defined by the route choice model, whereas the route choice model is a non-linear non-continuous mapping of the timetable. Therefore, a heuristic solution approach is developed in this paper, based on the idea of varying and optimising the offset of the bus lines. Varying the offset for a bus line impacts the waiting time passengers experience at any transfer stop on the bus line.In the bi-level timetable optimisation problem, the lower level is a transit assignment calculation yielding passengers’ route choice. This is used as weight when minimising waiting time by applying a Tabu Search algorithm to adapt the offset values for bus lines. The updated timetable then serves as input in the following transit assignment calculation. The process continues until convergence.The heuristic solution approach was applied on the large-scale public transport network in Denmark. The timetable optimisation approach yielded a yearly reduction in weighted waiting time equivalent to approximately 45 million Danish kroner (9 million USD).     

The management of the rural transportation problem in Nigeria

In spite of the fact that about 70% of Nigeria's population live in rural areas, these areas have remained largely inaccessible. Not only do they lack motorable roads and organized public transport but also field surveys indicate that nearly all rural inhabitants do not have a private car. A Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure has been set up to manage the inaccessibility problem, among others. Whereas there are several conventional approaches to the management of the rural transportation problem, the Nigerian approach relies on the provision of roads. This restrictive approach with an emphasis on locational to the neglect of personal accessibility has various limitations which are analysed.     

大坡度引水隧道无轨运输出渣方式的应用

辽西北供水工程11#支洞，断面小、坡度大，出渣运输方式是决定工期的关键控制因素。采用无轨运输出渣方式，存在以下问题：隧道纵坡坡度较大，运输渣车爬坡困难、存在严重的安全隐患；断面小，自卸车在陡坡上运行和洞内调头困难等。对此采取扩大隧道开挖断面、设置避车洞，改装车辆、确保车辆制动的可靠性；加强安全管理措施等。实践证明，采用无轨运输方式出渣具有节约工期、经济效益显著等特点，可根据实际工况加以选用。     

大型机场地面集疏运需求预测方法研究

机场地面集疏运系统是机场发展的重要支撑，交通需求预测是进行机场集疏运交通规划的前提。笔者以四阶段预测的基本原理为基础，结合机场集疏运需求特点，对预测的整体思路、方法、步骤和内容等进行详细分析，优化调整出行分布、方式划分预测模型，并以南京禄口国际机场为实例进行了预测。研究成果对国内同类大型机场的集疏运需求预测具有借鉴和参考价值。     

Innovative systems for the transportation disadvantaged: Toward more efficient and operationally usable planning tools

When considering innovative forms of public transport for specific groups, such as demand responsive services, the challenge is to find a good balance between operational efficiency and 'user friendliness' of the scheduling algorithm even when specialized skills are not available. Regret insertion-based processes have shown their effectiveness in addressing this specific concern. We introduce a new class of hybrid regret measures to understand better why the behaviour of this kind of heuristic is superior to that of other insertion rules. Our analyses show the importance of keeping a good balance between short- and long-term strategies during the solution process. We also use this methodology to investigate the relationship between the number of vehicles needed and total distance covered - the key point of any cost analysis striving for greater efficiency. Against expectations, in most cases decreasing fleet size leads to savings in vehicle mileage, since the heuristic solution is still far from optimality.