Optimization of interaction of automobile and railway transport at container terminals

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019. The article deals with the main processes occurring at the automobile-railway container terminal. The main economic entities of the automobile-railway communication are distinguished, including the owner of the railway infrastructure, the operator of the railway rolling stock, the container terminal and a road carrier. A technique is proposed for determining optimal parameters for the operation of terminal complexes, which is based on minimizing the amount of costs of all the participants in the transportation process. There is a need to revise the criteria for optimizing the calculation of the optimal amount of loading and unloading mechanisms, taking into account the costs for over-normal idle hours of motor vehicles under loading (unloading), over the planned time of work performance and costs due to idle time of the railway rolling stock on public roads in anticipation of loading (unloading). This technique assumes that the arrival of containers is a random stream of events, and the entire complex of terminal hardware is a service channel. The incoming flow of containers is classified based on the overall and weight characteristics. The results of the study show that when determining the optimal amount of loading and unloading mechanisms, it is necessary to take into account the costs associated with interdependent idle time of loading and unloading mechanisms, rolling and automobile stock. The additional time spent on the cargo deconsolidation, as well as the possibility of delivering lightweight containers in pairs, significantly affect the processing of the incoming container flow at the terminal. As a result of the study, it has been established that the interdependent idle time of transport and loading and unloading mechanisms is significantly reduced, taking into account the volumetric and weight characteristics of containers, the probabilistic arrival nature and the assessment of the transport capacity of vehicles used to deliver containers to the final consumers. It has been established that the savings of the total costs of the container terminal of Chelyabinsk Cargo Station and the losses of carriers when organizing loading and unloading operations based on the presented methodology will amount to 9%