Railway freight operator service and planning profile

Transportation contributes to a share of national income. Furthermore, improvements in transportation efficiency create room for accelerated economic growth. One target of the transport policy of the European Union (EU) is to promote railways as a safe and environmentally friendly mode of transportation. Stimulus for improving the efficiency of railways has been introduced recently, as the EU legislation has opened railway freight for competition from the beginning of year 2007 in all member states. The objective of this study is to explore the service profile and planning techniques used currently by railway operators. This is done by conducting an international survey. Although the number of responses was limited, the research provides new exploratory knowledge in current practices. Based on the results, operators typically rely on spreadsheet-based solutions for operations planning, while only larger operators use more sophisticated methods. In order to further improve the efficiency of railway freight services, we suggest that the cost of using simulation should be reduced.