| dc.description.abstract | Intermodal transport is by many considered to be a possible solution to increased transport needs of
the future and also to be a way of reducing the negative impacts of transport such as emission, land
use, and congestion. In Swedish as well as in European transport policy, goals have been expressed
about increasing the market shares of intermodal transport.
However, increasing the market share of intermodal transport calls for increased knowledge about
which strategies are optimal/satisfying for the continued development of the intermodal transport
system. This knowledge is required at different levels such as the transport policy level, the
operators' level, and the shippers' level. There is a need for answers to questions about which
market shares are possible in total, for regions, and for transport links; what an optimal system
design looks like in terms of transport links, train frequencies, and train sizes; where intermodal
terminals and road connections should be located; what rolling stock should be used; and how pickup
and distribution areas around terminals should be drawn. These answers are needed in terms of
realistic, strategic scenarios that point to viable roads for the development of intermodal transport.
The scenarios provide information that is necessary for the design of effective transport policy, for
operators' investments and system designs, for the formulation of business missions and strategies
by operators, and for the choice of transport solutions for shippers. Model tools designed specifically
for analysing intermodal transport in the way described above and producing the output described
above do not exist in the market.
A computer based analysis and decision support model for Swedish domestic and border crossing
intermodal transport has been developed at The School of Business, Economics and Law at University
of Gothenburg. The Heuristics Intermodal Transport model HIT-Model, is a user friendly model that
can be run on an ordinary desktop PC. The model takes its starting point in a competitive situation
between traditional all-road transport and intermodal transport, where the theoretical potential of
intermodal transport is determined by how well it performs in comparison with all-road transport.
The computer based model is aimed at being capable of giving answers to the questions mentioned
above under different conditions concerning total demand for transport, cost structures, relative
price changes, transport vehicle capacity, and transport vehicle performance etc. The model
considers the competitive situation between different modes of transport in the market.
This project aims at supplying the model with user interface and a sufficiently broad and relevant
empirical data base making it possible to make the various types of analyses that were described
above. To collect all the data that is needed for every single analysis is not efficient, since the same
data to a large extent will be required for different types of use of the model, and since data
collection is time consuming and expensive.
This report contains of four parts. The parts are designed to be read both as one report and
individually as separate reports. Some overlap might therefore occur between the parts in order to
make the separate reports also possible to read as stand-alone reports. | sv |
