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1.4 Multimodal Networks and Intermodal Connectors

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28 views

1.4 Multimodal Networks and Intermodal Connectors

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Uploaded by

anothersomeguy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS AND INTERMODAL SYSTEMS

NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS AND INTERMODAL SYSTEMS 1.11

The USDOT Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) has underway a joint government-industry
effort called the National Pipeline Mapping System. However, at this juncture it appears that
the OPS project will not provide a public domain pipeline database, at least not in the near
future.

1.4 MULTIMODAL NETWORKS AND INTERMODAL CONNECTORS

There are many applications of national network models that require consideration of traffic
that uses more than one mode of transportation for travel between origin and destination
areas. In most cases the exact routes and transfer locations of the individual movements are
unknown, and hence a multimodal network model must be used to estimate these results. A
good example is the processing system used to estimate ton-miles of traffic by commodity
and mode for the national commodity flow surveys (CFS) conducted by the USDOT and the
U.S. Census Bureau. The procedures used are described by Bronzini et al. (1996). The CFS
collected information from shippers about specific intercity freight shipments, including the
commodity, origin, destination, shipment size in tons, and the mode or modes of transpor-
tation used. Shipment distance by mode was not collected, so a multimodal network model
was used to find routes through the U.S. freight transportation network, thereby allowing
estimation of mileage by mode for each shipment in the survey. To allow for multimodal
routings, the separate modal networks were connected at appropriate locations using inter-
modal transfer links.
Establishing analytically correct intermodal transfer links for a multimodal network is not
a simple undertaking. To a first approximation, one could use GIS software to find nodes of
different modes that are within some threshold distance of each other, and simply establish
mode-to-mode connectors at all such locations. This, however, ignores the investment cost
and special-purpose nature of intermodal transfer facilities, and tends to overestimate the
number of intermodal connectors.
To assist with these types of applications, the NTAD includes a file called the Intermodal
Terminal Facilities data set. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed the intermodal
terminal facility data from which this database was derived. This database contains geo-
graphic data for trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) and container-on-flatcar (COFC) highway-rail and
rail-water transfer facilities in the United States. Attribute data specify the intermodal con-
nections at each facility; i.e., the modes involved in the intermodal transfer, the AAR re-
porting marks of the railroad serving the facility, the type of cargo, and the direction of the
transfer. These latter two attributes are extremely important. Even though two modes may
have an intermodal connection at a given point, it does not follow that all commodities
carried by the two modes can interchange there. Typically, each such connector handles only
one commodity or type of commodity. For example, a coal terminal will not usually handle
grain or petroleum products. Further, the transfer facility may serve flows only in one di-
rection. A waterside coal transfer terminal, for example, may allow dumping from rail cars
to barges but may not provide facilities for lifting coal from barges into rail cars. These
examples illustrate why a simple proximity analysis method is unlikely to yield correct
identification of intermodal connector links.
Attribute data for the Intermodal Terminal Facilities data set were extracted from the
Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) 1997 Rail Intermodal Terminal Directory,
the Official Railway Guide, the TTX Company Intermodal Directory, the Internet home pages
of several railroads, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Port Series Reports, Containerization
International Yearbook, the 1996 Directory of the American Association of Port Authorities
(AAPA), and various transportation news sources, both in print and on the Internet. Attribute
data reflect conditions at TOFC / COFC facilities during 199596 and are subject to frequent
change. The database does not include TOFC / COFC and marine container facilities known
to have been closed before or during 1996. However, because of the frequent turnover of

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