Title

Empty Railcar Distribution

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2015

Publication Source

Handbook of Operations Research Applications at Railroads

Abstract

Each year in North America, approximately 30 million carloads are shipped via rail in “general merchandise” or carload service (AAR 2012). In each case, the railroad must deliver a rail-owned empty railcar (such as a box car, gondola, or hopper depending on the commodity) to the origin of the shipper to begin loading. (This process does not apply to private fleets owned and managed by the shipper, as is common for some car types such as tank cars.) After the loaded railcar is delivered to the shipper’s destination and emptied, the rail car is released back to the railroad's custody, and the cycle begins again. The challenge of repositioning a multitude of rail-owned railcars to various origins is known as the empty railcar distribution problem.

Inclusive pages

177-189

ISBN/ISSN

9781489975706

Comments

Permission documentation is on file.

Publisher

Springer

Volume

222

Place of Publication

New York, NY

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