TRANSPORTATION POLICY ANALYSIS WITH A GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION-SYSTEM -THE VIRTUAL NETWORK OF FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION IN EUROPE

This paper presents a multi-modal freight transportation model based o n a digitized geographic network. A systematic analysis and decomposit ion of all the transport operations, i.e. moving, loading and unloadin g, transshipping and transiting, leads to the development of a virtual network where each virtual link corresponds to a specific operation, and all transportation modes and means are inter-linked. Software, cal led NODUS, automatically generates the virtual network so that the mod el can be conveniently applied to large networks. The analytical struc ture of the links notation makes it easy to attach specific cost funct ions to each virtual link. The model is applied to the trans-European freight network of roads, railways and inland waterways for the transp ortation of wood. Cost functions are built up for each operation by ea ch mode/means combination. A detailed point-to-point origin-destinatio n matrix, calibrated on Eurostat statistics, is generated by a Monte-C arlo technique. Then, the total transportation cost is minimized with respect to the choices of routes, modes and means. This provides estim ations of transportation services demands as well as modal splits, to the extent that the two hypotheses of demand based on generalized cost minimization and market contestability are accepted. A sensitivity an alysis on the relative road cost is made, which provides measures of a re-elasticities. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd