Network design and delivery scheme optimisation under integrated air-rail freight transportation

To promote the domestic economy and reduce transport costs, it is necessary for Chinese express companies to adopt the integrated air-rail freight transport mode. Thus, a major challenge is to determine how to efficiently use three kinds of transport vehicles: cargo aircraft, passenger aircraft bellies and high-speed train (HST) bellies. Therefore, in this paper, a bi-level model is constructed to allow an express company to optimise its integrated air-rail transport network and parcel delivery scheme. A hybrid algorithm is developed for solving the model. Data from the logistics company SF Express are used for a case study. From the calculated results, we find that the HST transport mode plays the main role, it can replace the passenger aircraft transportation to a large extent. Moreover, the total transport cost depends on the rental price of HST space largely. Furthermore, the timeliness requirement can largely influence the HST transportation ratio.

Automated summary

In order to promote the domestic economy and reduce transport costs, Chinese express companies need to adopt the integrated air-rail freight transport mode, with high-speed train transportation playing a major role. The total transport cost largely depends on the rental price of high-speed train space, and the timeliness requirement can significantly influence the high-speed train transportation ratio.