Comprehensive Evaluation Model and Empirical Research on Railway Freight Rates in a Competitive Environment

This study aims to establish criteria to evaluate performance in railway freight pricing policy and to strengthen the marketing ability of the railway freight enterprise. The evaluation method used in our study is known as the improved grey relation analysis evaluation. Fifteen factors that influence freight pricing strategy are selected in this paper to establish a freight rate evaluation index system and comprehensive evaluation index values for monthly freight rates are calculated. The improved grey relation analysis not only considers the relation between each index and freight rate but also examines the relationship between each index. We find that the comprehensive evaluation state using the improved grey relation analysis evaluation method can better fit the 2015-2017 changes in monthly railroad freight revenue than the traditional grey relation analysis evaluation. Furthermore, an optimal pricing model for freight shipping by train is built and calculated using the bi-level programming model. Finally, the S Railway Bureau's actual coal transportation in 2017 is taken as an experiment to support the validity of the improved grey relation analysis method. We find that when the monthly results of improved grey evaluation grades are compared with the grade evaluation of the gap between the historical shipping coal rates and the optimal freight shipping rates, the comparison of results matches well. The research work is helpful to policymakers who need to judge the performance of the market price.