Article ID: | iaor1997218 |
Country: | United States |
Volume: | 29 |
Issue: | 4 |
Start Page Number: | 330 |
End Page Number: | 341 |
Publication Date: | Nov 1995 |
Journal: | Transportation Science |
Authors: | Feo Thomas A., Gonzlez-Velarde Jos Luis |
Keywords: | sets, programming: linear, transportation: rail, Transportation: Rail |
The problem of optimally assigning highway trailers to railcar hitches in intermodal transportation is studied. An integer-linear programming formulation is constructed. The problem is formulated using set covering. The resulting formulation is very small, and possesses in practice a tight linear programming relaxation. This allows it to be solved effecively by a general purpose branch-and-bound code. This formulation also provided the basis for the development of a Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure. This heuristic is observed to be extremely fast. Empirically, it finds the optimal solution to all of the problem instances furnished over a two year period by Consolidated Rail Corporation.