Scheduling train loading with straddle carriers in container yards

This paper considers a scheduling problem occurring in the hinterland of many medium‐sized container ports. Here, containers from a storage yard need to be loaded onto freight trains by straddle carriers (SCs). The main complicating fact in the resulting train loading problem with straddle carriers (TLSC) is that the track provides only one‐sided access and while straddling the train SCs cannot pass each other. This paper introduces the TLSC with two different policies to avoid obstructions of SCs in the track lane, settles computational complexity, and compares both policies in a comprehensive computational study.