State of the art MINT Model and decision support system for evaluation of intermodal terminal networks

Report, 2011

The aim of the report is provide a state-of-the-art description of the current design of intermodal terminals and intermodal transport systems, i.e. to describe the dominating design of the system including its functions. The knowledge how to produce intermodal transport and to operate terminals is not only tacit knowledge within the Intermodal operators, but has also been transferred and further developed by Universities, Research Institutes and Consultancies. The latter organisations have developed models and decision support systems for evaluation of intermodal terminal and terminal networks. There are a large number of research publications and reports in this field, but there are also a large number of models and support systems developed in-house. Hence, the aim of this report is a state-of-the-art description and analysis of: What are dominating intermodal transport design for road-rail transport in the MINT corridor? What actors are involved, what activities are performed and what resources are used? What is the dominating design of intermodal terminals? What external and internal factors affect the intermodal cost-quality-ratio and its competitive situation related to unimodal road transport? What organisations use models and decision support systems developed or adapted to intermodal conditions? What models are used by these organisations and for what purpose? What parts in the intermodal systems might be evaluated with these models? What model and decision support systems competing with the MINT models (HIT, EvaRail, SimCont, TermCost and SimNet) or the combined MINT model system can be found in the R&D literature? What is the aim, scope, opportunities and limitations with the identified models or model systems?