Modelling the selection of the mode of transportation of hazardous materials

The paper compares two common transportation modes of hazardous materials: highway transportation and highway- railway intermodal transportation. For each transportation mode,a multi-origin,multi-destination, and multi-variety hazardous materials transportation model has been constructed. Ant colony algorithms have been utilized to calculate the transportation models for the two transportation modes. The models clearly demonstrate when to employ highway transportation and when to employ highway-railway intermodal transportation. Case studies show that which transportation mode is employed depends on the annual transported amount of the hazardous materials,and the optimal locations of transfer yards are determined by the optimal transportation route.