Service network design with management and coordination of multiple fleets

We present a new optimization model for the tactical design of scheduled service networks for transportation systems where several entities provide service and internal exchanges and coordination with neighboring systems is critical. Internal exchanges represent border crossings necessitating changes of vehicles, while the coordination with neighboring systems represents intermodal operations. For a given demand, the model determines departure times of the services such that throughput time of the demand in the system is minimized. The model is an extension of the design-balanced capacitated multicommodity network design model that we denote service network design with asset management and multiple fleet coordination to emphasize the explicit modeling of different vehicle fleets. Data from a real-world problem addressing the planning of new rail freight services across borders serves to illustrate the capabilities of the formulation. We analyze how synchronization with collaborating services and removal of border-crossing operations impact the throughput time for the freight. We identify a significant potential for system performance enhancement from synchronization among collaborating services for the problem studied.