EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics最新文献

{"title":"An MIP-heuristic approach for solving multiobjective helicopter flight scheduling in an oil and gas company","authors":"Angelo Aliano Filho ,&nbsp;Tarley Mansur Fantazzini ,&nbsp;Reinaldo Morabito","doi":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100169","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100169","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Oil and gas extraction from offshore platforms usually requires regular helicopter transport to shuttle personnel to these remote sites. Effective organization and scheduling of flights to these maritime units ensure uninterrupted services, enhance operational efficiency, and guarantee service continuity. However, flights are subject to disruptions and might require rescheduling. To assist with decision-making in such situations, we present optimization approaches based on a discrete-time multiobjective integer linear optimization problem. This problem focuses on rescheduling flights from previous days into the current day’s flight schedule, aiming to minimize: (i) transferred flights to upcoming days; (ii) reduce helicopter usage; (iii) the total flight delay. Solving this problem using classic multiobjective scalarization methods for real instances takes several hours. This motivated the development of an MIP-heuristic that efficiently exploits special characteristics of this problem. Numerical results using data from a Brazilian company and in randomly generated instances showed the effectiveness of the proposed approach, producing a variety of high-quality solutions and consuming around 8% of the effort of an exact solution method. A strong conflict between these objectives was also observed. The trade-off analysis carried out made it possible to quantify how much the prioritization of the level of service (objectives (i) and (iii)) impacts helicopter costs and vice versa. Disregarding the subjectivity of the weight given to each goal, the proposed approach and technique proved to be effective in this context, capable of offering a wide range of alternative solutions to help the decision-maker choose a safe decision.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45871,"journal":{"name":"EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100169"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145683885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Stop plan optimisation for three-pattern skip-stop schemes for urban rail transit systems","authors":"Somporn Sahachaiseree ,&nbsp;Mohammad Sadrani ,&nbsp;Constantinos Antoniou","doi":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2024.100149","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2024.100149","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mass rapid transit systems around the world are typically designed for all-stop operation schemes, in which train overtaking is not possible. To accelerate transit operation, the conventional A/B skip-stop scheme may be planned. This research explores alternative skip-stop schemes with three stop patterns, aiming to better match transit services with the spatial distribution of travel demand. The proposed generalised skip-stop operation model considers both the total cost of passengers and operator. A genetic algorithm is employed to solve the stop-plan optimisation problem, and a heuristic is tailored to determine an optimal dispatch headway for the respective stop plan. Based on computational experiments using synthetic data, the results suggest that skip-stop schemes have the potential to reduce total time costs by about 10%, particularly when there are structured demand concentrations, transit systems can operate safely with low time headway and short-distance demand is low. Although the total-cost saving of the best A/B skip-stop plan found is generally superior to those of other three-pattern skip-stop schemes, a three-pattern skip-stop scheme was found to offer a better total-cost saving in a scenario without short-distance travel demands. Overall, this research offers valuable insights into the potential benefits and limitations of different skip-stop schemes, contributing to a better understanding of their impact on passengers and operators.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45871,"journal":{"name":"EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100149"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143103819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scheduled service network design for intercontinental rail freight transport","authors":"Jing Shan ,&nbsp;Henning Preis ,&nbsp;Nikola Bešinović ,&nbsp;Jörn Schönberger","doi":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100165","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100165","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intercontinental rail freight transport has made significant strides in recent years, demonstrating its potential as a critical player in the global supply chain, such as Eurasian rail freight transport. However, Eurasian rail freight transport encounters challenges, including the presence of multiple rail systems with varying railway gauges, and especially in addressing the diverse requirements of the modern global supply chain. The traditional ’one service for all’ operational strategy is incapable of meeting the diverse transport requirements, emphasizing the need for more tailored solutions. We propose a time-space formulated Intercontinental Scheduled Service Network Design (I-SSND) for a relay intercontinental rail freight transport system, which necessitates an extension of the Scheduled Service Network Design (SSND). The I-SSND model, as a practical management tool, aims to move away from the traditional ’China-Europe Block Train’ business model, which offers only standard service, by enabling service differentiation. I-SSND model consider border crossing terminal times as well as train length variability across multiple different rail systems. It allows different orders from different origins to be consolidated at borders and share the same train service for the main transit based on their individual time constraints. The I-SSND model can assess demand variability and potential disruptions in the Eurasian rail network, including extended border crossing times, and evaluate their impact on overall network performance. The initial application of this model in Eurasian rail freight transport has yielded encouraging results. Mixed services demonstrate better performance compared to single standard services; the analysis shows an increase in profit growth and accepted orders. However, uneven demand distribution reduces overall network throughput and poses challenges for efficient capacity utilization, especially when compared to a more evenly distributed demand. Additionally, by integrating delay tolerance in mixed services, various metrics have significantly improved. On average, container acceptance increased by 10.44% and profits by 37.26%. These findings provide actionable managerial insights for intercontinental rail freight and highlight the necessity of establishing an entity to coordinate rail capacity planning across the various national rail networks involved.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45871,"journal":{"name":"EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100165"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145319639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Solving the line planning problem with service-levels using a column generation-based heuristic algorithm","authors":"Hector Gatt ,&nbsp;Jean-Marie Freche ,&nbsp;Fabien Lehuédé ,&nbsp;Thomas G. Yeung","doi":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100164","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100164","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research investigates the strategic design of bus line networks by incorporating the operational objectives and constraints relevant to network operators. Drawing on industry expertise from a public transportation software company, we formulate the problem as a line planning optimization problem aimed at minimizing network operating costs while simultaneously addressing two critical service quality metrics: the deviation between passengers’ actual travel times and their respective shortest-path travel times, and the proportion of passengers completing trips without transfers. To address problem instances of realistic scale and complexity, we develop and implement a column generation heuristic framework wherein both bus lines and passenger routing paths are generated dynamically throughout the solution process. Our methodological approach combines column generation and column enumeration algorithms, demonstrating computational efficiency when evaluated against established benchmark instances. Furthermore, we present a comprehensive case study examining a medium-sized French municipality, through which we demonstrate the practical integration of real-world design principles within our optimization framework. This empirical analysis yields novel insights regarding the sensitivity of both our proposed parameters and commonly employed parameters in bus network design literature.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45871,"journal":{"name":"EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100164"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145219476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Accelerating the electric vehicle revolution: Policy implications of charging subsidies and green taxes","authors":"Sanchari Guha Niyogi","doi":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100152","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100152","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Electric vehicles (EVs) are central to global efforts to reduce transportation emissions, yet limited charging infrastructure remains a primary barrier to widespread adoption. Governments worldwide have implemented various subsidies for EV purchasers and manufacturers, alongside green tax schemes, to incentivise infrastructure expansion and boost EV uptake. This research explores the efficacy of policy combinations — specifically purchase-based or per-station subsidies and green taxes — in a duopolistic market setting. By employing a game-theoretic model comprising profit-maximising EV and gasoline vehicle (GV) manufacturers, a population of utility-maximising consumers, and a social welfare-maximising government, we observe that a purchase-based subsidy in combination with a green tax provides a win–win–win outcome for the government and the manufacturers. Incorporating consumers’ EV-related anxieties, our analysis suggests that a green tax, either on its own or combined with subsidies, is the most effective policy for governments aiming to maximise social welfare. In markets characterised by diverse and sometimes misinformed consumers, a policy mix of green taxes and charging subsidies proves especially beneficial when the environmental impact of EV adoption is substantial. Additionally, when accounting for network effects, which could result in congested charging stations, pairing consumer subsidies with a green tax emerges as the preferential policy. Manufacturers and policymakers are provided with multifaceted insights that aid in conceptualising electric mobility.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45871,"journal":{"name":"EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100152"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143422715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optimal departure time choices as quantiles and expectiles of the travel time distribution","authors":"Maria Osipenko","doi":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100162","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100162","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We consider two alternative preference specifications for optimal departure time choices: the classical asymmetric linear loss for early and late delays, and a new specification based on asymmetric quadratic loss. We demonstrate that the resulting optimal choices correspond to the tail indices of the travel time distribution—quantiles for the asymmetric linear specification and expectiles for the asymmetric quadratic specification. Additionally, we establish a correspondence between the choices induced by these two utility specifications, showing that the asymmetric quadratic preference class is a valid alternative with favorable properties, as demonstrated through examples and applications. For both utility specifications, we derive travel time reliability ratios and present a straightforward computation method using the concepts of <span><math><mi>τ</mi></math></span>-deviation and <span><math><mi>τ</mi></math></span>-variance. Moreover, we test both specifications using departure time choice data, finding that the quadratic loss specification more accurately represents actual departure time choices. Finally, using Montreal travel time data for two alternative routes, we fit a mixture of gamma distributions and compare the behavior of the optimal departure time choices and travel time reliability ratio curves induced by the different utility specifications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45871,"journal":{"name":"EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100162"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144879351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Design tasks and their complexity for the European Train Control System with Hybrid Train Detection","authors":"Stefan Engels ,&nbsp;Tom Peham ,&nbsp;Judith Przigoda ,&nbsp;Nils Przigoda ,&nbsp;Robert Wille","doi":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100161","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100161","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Railway networks have become increasingly important in recent times, especially in moving freight and public transportation from road traffic and planes to more environmentally friendly trains. Since expanding the global railway network is time- and resource-consuming, maximizing the rail capacity of the existing infrastructure is desirable. However, simply running more trains is infeasible as certain constraints enforced by the train control system must be satisfied. The capacity of a network depends (amongst others) on the distance between trains allowed by this safety system. While most signaling systems rely on fixed blocks defined by costly hardware, new specifications provided by Level 2 with Hybrid Train Detection of the European Train Control System (ETCS L2 HTD), formerly known as ETCS Hybrid Level 3, allow the usage of virtual subsections. This additional degree of freedom allows for shorter train following times and, thus, more trains on existing railway tracks. On the other hand, new design tasks arise on which automated methods might be helpful for designers of modern railway networks. However, although first approaches exist that solve design problems arising within ETCS L2 HTD, neither formal descriptions nor results on the computational complexity of the corresponding design tasks exist. In this paper, we fill this gap by providing a formal description of design tasks for ETCS L2 HTD and proof that these tasks are NP-complete or NP-hard, respectively. By that, we are providing a solid basis for the future development of methods to solve those tasks, which will be integrated into the <em>Munich Train Control Toolkit</em> available open-source on GitHub at <span><span>https://github.com/cda-tum/mtct</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45871,"journal":{"name":"EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100161"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144548727","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"50 years of Operations Research for the tactical planning of consolidation-based freight transportation","authors":"Teodor Gabriel Crainic,&nbsp;Walter Rei","doi":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100157","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100157","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Consolidation-based freight transportation supports a large and valuable part of world trade, over short, medium, long, and intercontinental distances, which all societies depend on and thrive on. It is carried out by carriers that supply the resources and services that meet the demands expressed by shippers. Consolidation aims at increased operational and economic efficiency, by combining cargo of different shippers into the same loading units for their complete or partial journeys. The scope of this paper is consolidation-based freight transport and the tactical planning challenges faced by carriers, who need to design a set of scheduled services that profitably and efficiently align the allocation of resources with anticipated shipping needs over a medium to long-term horizon. The tactical plan then guides day-to-day operations and informs strategic decisions. Building it represents a very complex problem, however, that requires powerful decision-support tools. Operations Research, O.R., has a long and rich history of fruitful interactions with the decision-making and planning of freight transportation, leading to significant methodological developments and delivering high-quality solutions within the necessary decision-making time frames. The paper focuses on this history, emphasizing the developments in Service Network Design, SND, the primary O.R. methodology proposed to address the challenges of tactical planning problems pertinent to consolidation-based freight transportation systems. The paper is structured to explore key dimensions in the inherent complexity of carrier tactical planning and the SND innovations developed to address them. These dimensions include the explicit consideration of temporal aspects of system elements and dynamics; integrative decision making, particularly in managing the resources carriers require to support their services and operations; and accounting for the uncertainty that directly impacts the planning of consolidation-based freight transportation systems. The paper offers insights into the main developments over the last 50 years and identifies promising research avenues.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45871,"journal":{"name":"EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100157"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144089439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Explaining the performance impact of opportunity costs approximation in integrated demand management and vehicle routing","authors":"David Fleckenstein ,&nbsp;Robert Klein ,&nbsp;Vienna Klein ,&nbsp;Claudius Steinhardt","doi":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100166","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100166","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The widespread adoption of digital distribution channels both enables and forces more and more logistics service providers to manage booking processes actively to maintain competitiveness. As a result, their operational planning is no longer limited to solving vehicle routing problems. Instead, demand management decisions and vehicle routing decisions are optimized integratively with the aim of maximizing revenue and minimizing fulfillment cost. The resulting integrated demand management and vehicle routing problems (i-DMVRPs) can be formulated as Markov decision process models and, theoretically, can be solved via the well-known Bellman equation. Unfortunately, the Bellman equation is intractable for realistic-sized instances. Thus, in the literature, i-DMVRPs are often addressed via decomposition-based solution approaches involving an opportunity costs approximation as a key component. Despite its importance, to the best of our knowledge, there is no technique to systematically analyze how the accuracy of the opportunity costs approximation affects the performance, e.g., the profit, the revenue, the number of accepted customers, or the cost of the overall logistics system, which is represented by a vehicle routing problem, nor are there general guidelines on when to apply which class of approximation approach. In this work, we address this research gap by proposing an explainability technique that quantifies and visualizes the magnitude of approximation errors, their immediate impact on the underlying vehicle routing problem and its profitability, and the relevance of approximation errors in specific regions of the state space. Exploiting reward decomposition, it further yields a characterization of different types of approximation errors. Applying the technique to a generic i-DMVRP in a full-factorial computational study and comparing the results with observations in existing literature, we show that the technique contributes to better explaining algorithmic performance and provides guidance for the algorithm selection and development process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45871,"journal":{"name":"EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100166"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145319637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrated optimization of timetabling and Electric Vehicle Scheduling","authors":"Vladimir Stadnichuk ,&nbsp;Jenny Segschneider ,&nbsp;Arie M.C.A. Koster ,&nbsp;Grit Walther","doi":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100168","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100168","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We tackle the integrated planning problem of periodic timetabling and electric vehicle scheduling, crucial for cities transitioning to electric bus fleets. Given existing timetables, we allow only minor modifications and propose an iterative solution approach that addresses the Electric Vehicle Scheduling Problem (EVSP) in each iteration. Due to the NP-hard nature of EVSP, we employ well-established heuristics and evaluate the quality of the solutions obtained. Specifically, we establish tight approximation bounds for certain iterative heuristics that first solve the Vehicle Scheduling Problem and subsequently adjust solutions to meet battery constraints. We make several key contributions: We provide general insights into heuristic solution quality, establish theoretical performance bounds, and validate these findings through a case study using real-world data from Aachen, Germany. Additionally, we employ our iterative framework to derive managerial insights for bus operators in Aachen by quantifying potential gains from adjusting the timetable to support the transition to a fully electric bus fleet.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45871,"journal":{"name":"EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100168"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145579013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}