Research on design methodology for railway freight service combination plans to meet diverse demands

PurposeFacing the diverse needs of large-scale customers, based on available railway service resources and service capabilities, this paper aims to research the design method of railway freight service portfolio, select optimal service solutions and provide customers with comprehensive and customized freight services.Design/methodology/approachBased on the characteristics of railway freight services throughout the entire process, the service system is decomposed into independent units of service functions, and a railway freight service combination model is constructed with the goal of minimizing response time, service cost and service time. A model solving algorithm based on adaptive genetic algorithm is proposed.FindingsUsing the computational model, an empirical analysis was conducted on the entire process freight service plan for starch sold from Xi'an to Chengdu as an example. The results showed that the proposed optimization model and algorithm can effectively guide the design of freight plans and provide technical support for real-time response to customers' diversified entire process freight service needs.Originality/valueWith the continuous optimization and upgrading of railway freight source structure, customer demands are becoming increasingly diverse and personalized. Studying and designing a reasonable railway freight service plan throughout the entire process is of great significance for timely response to customer needs, improving service efficiency and reducing design costs.