A Simulated Annealing Algorithm for Intermodal Transportation on Incomplete Networks

Growing competition in the world enforces the need for an efficient design of transportation networks. Furthermore, a competitive transportation network should also be eco-friendly. As road transportation is responsible for the largest quantities of CO2 emissions, Intermodal Transportation (IT) might be a potential alternative. From this perspective, intermodal terminals location is a cornerstone for building a sustainable transportation network. The purpose of this paper is to study and efficiently solve the Intermodal Terminal Location Problem on incomplete networks. We model this problem as a mixed integer linear program and develop a simulated annealing algorithm to tackle medium and large instances. The computational results show that the obtained solutions using simulated annealing are competitive and close to the exact solutions found by CPLEX solver for small and medium instances. The same developed algorithm outperforms the best found solutions from the literature using heuristics for larger instances.

Automated summary

Efficient and eco-friendly transportation network design requires strategic location of intermodal terminals for sustainability. This study addresses the Intermodal Terminal Location Problem on incomplete networks, utilizing a simulated annealing algorithm for medium and large instances, showing competitive solutions compared to CPLEX solver for smaller instances and outperforming existing heuristic solutions for larger instances.