Decision Support System for Loading Containers onto Double-Stack Rail Cars

摘要

This study investigates intermodal rail terminal operations and describes thedevelopment of a computerized decision support system to load containers to double-stack trains efficiently. The support system, referred to as the double Stack Planner (DSP), simulated many tasks performed by rail personnel who manually assign containers to rail car locations. DSP simulates container loading and does not allow platform and truck load restrictions to be violated, DSP's rule base may be modified to load trains according to different loading strategies. Comparison of these loading strategies are made to evaluate the sensitivity of different criteria to the load quality of a train.