Holistic approach to the ecological cargo distribution in urban areas with the use of multi-modal transport

Abstract

Due to the continuous development of cities and growing demand for cargo transportation, it is necessary to develop and implement new concepts for distribution. The paper presents the concept of a hierarchical cargo distribution in the distribution system using multi-modal transport. This approach involves the use of trams and electric vehicles. It is justified from the point of view of the European Union's strategy related to lowering emissions of toxic compounds. The use of such means of transport not only has a positive impact on the ecology, but also on the social development of cities and the living conditions of the inhabitants. The presented concept includes the use of cargo consolidation centers located on the outskirts of cities. The city was divided into three zones with different traffic characteristics and the possibility of dynamically change the areas size occupied by them. The use of different means of transport needed to take account of appropriate transport infrastructure like sidings (loading track) located within the city. This article presents a mathematical model of that distribution system. Linear and point infrastructure and other system components like means of transport were characterized. Constraints arising from the technical and legal conditions were identified. The considerations presented in this article represent an interesting approach to deliveries in urban areas. Positive and negative aspects of the used approach were presented in the paper.The developed concept is a new approach to the cargo distribution with a positive impact on reducing exhaust emissions in cities. Article presents the part of research in the "EMITRANSYS" project implemented by the Faculty of Transport in Warsaw University of Technology and the Poznan University of Technology.

The influence of the external costs of modal split in the transport network, with particular reference to rail transport

“…Formally, the criteria for assessment of the organization of a transport system performance X(v) for each variant v, v ∈ V has the following form [7]: …”

“…Arc (3,7) showing an existing air connection between Warsaw Okęcie Airport and Cracow Balice Airport. Arc (4,8) is a road connection between center of Warsaw and Cracow center.…”

Route Planning with Dynamic Information from the EPLOS System

“…An example of this type of problems may be the availability of appropriate handling equipment enabling the unloading of vehicles at the recipient's end. Hence, both the knowledge of road conditions and the ability of shippers / recipients to load / unload goods can directly affect the efficiency of the implementation of the cargo transport process [4][5][6].…”

A Model for the Designing of Multimodal Transport Processes and the Concept of Its Integration with the EPLOS System

“…However, in previous years, the issues related to the selection of multimodal transport technologies were considered in partial terms. Namely, some of the authors dealt exclusively with the key transport susceptibility of cargo in this area [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14], while others, apart from this issue, proposed various approaches to optimizing the supply chain configuration [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24], or they dealt exclusively with the issue of the selection of the means of transport for tasks [25,26] or, e.g., optimization of transport routes [27][28][29].…”