The goal of an intermodal transportation system is to increase the efficiency of transportation systems by combining the resources of the four main modes of transportation. The benefits of a national intermodal transportation system are numerous, and can play a key role is the United States' ability to remain competitive in the global economic market.; The objective of this research is to establish a basic framework for mathematically modeling intermodal transportation systems. The lack of coordination that has persisted in the development of the current transportation system has resulted in independent terminology among the four modes of transportation. Therefore, the first step in establishing a modeling framework was to develop a common terminology base, on which the modeling framework is based.; The long-term objective of this study is to integrate the modeling framework with geographic information systems and global positioning systems, to allow for real-time model building and decision making.
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