A bi-objective model for planning and managing rail-truck intermodal transportation of hazardous materials

We propose a bi-objective optimization framework for routing rail-truck intermodal shipments with hazardous materials, when shippers and receivers have access to alternate intermodal terminals. A tabu-search based solution methodology is developed, which together with the optimization framework is applied to realistic size problem instances to gain managerial insights. Our analysis indicates that drayage accounts for a significant portion of transport risk and that it can be reduced by scheduling direct and faster trains; and, that the mix of intermodal trains depends on the interest of the decision-makers, where the resulting traffic can facilitate planning emergency response systems. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.