中文3211字外文翻译原文Service Design Models for Rail Intermodal TransportationMaterial Source: University of Quebec in Montreal Author: Teodor Gabriel Summary.Intermodal transportation forms the backbone of the world trade and exhibits significant growth resulting in modifications to the structure of maritime and land-based transportation systems,as well as in the increase of the volume and value of intermodal traffic moved by each individual mode.Railroads play an important role within the intermodal chain. Their own interests and environment-conscious public policy have railroads aiming to increase their market share.To address the challenge of efficiently competing with trucking in offering customers timely,flexible,and low-cost transportation services,railroads propose new types of services and enhanced performances.From an Operations Research point of view,this requires that models be revisited and appropriate methods be devised.The paper discusses some of these issues and developments focusing on tactical planning issues and identifies challenging and promising research directions.Key words: Intermodal transportation, Freight rail carriers, Tactical planning, Full-asset-utilization policies, Intermodal shuttle networks, Design-balanced service net-work design1 IntroductionIntermodal transportation forms the backbone of the world trade and exhibits significant growth. The value of multimodal shipments in the U.S., include parcel, postal service, courier, truck-and-rail, truck-and-water, and rail-and-water, increased from about 662 billion US dollars to about 1.1 trillion in a period of nine years(1993 to 200331). In the same period, the total annual world container traffic grew from some 113.2 millions of TEU(20 feet equivalent container units) to almost 255 millions, reaching an estimated 304 millions of TEUs by 2005.Intermodal transportation involves, sometimes integrates, at least two modes and services of transportation to improve the efficiency of the door-to-door distribution process. The growth in intermodal traffic thus resulted in significant modification to the structure of maritime and land-based transportation systems as well as in major increase of the volumes and value of intermodal traffic moved by each individual mode. Thus,for example, in 2003, for the first time ever, intermodal freight surpassed coal as a source of revenue for major, Class I,U.S. railroads, representing 23% of the carriers gross revenue 31. The growth of intermodal rail traffic in the U.S., which reached 11 million trailers (26% of total) and containers (76%) in 2004,is the direct result of the rapid growth in the use of containers for international trade,imports accounting for the majority of the intermodal activity 31.Governmental policy may also contribute to re-structuring intermodal transportation and shifting parts of the land part of the journey from trucking toward rail and water (interior and coastal navigation). This is, for example, the main focus of the European Union as stated in its 2001 White Paper on transportation 20. The reason for this is to reduce road congestion and promote environmentally friendlier modes of transportation. The instruments favored to implement such policies vary from road taxes to penalize truk-based transportation to the support of new rail services for intermodal traffic.The performance of intermodal transportation depends directly on the performance of the key individual elements of the chain, navigation companies, railroads, motor carriers, ports, etc., as well as on the quality of their interactions regarding operations, information, and decisions. The Intelligent Transportation Systems and Internet-fueled electronic business technologies provide the framework to address the latter challenges. Regarding the former, carriers and terminals, on their own or in collaboration, strive to continuously improve their performance. Railroads are no exception. Indeed, for intermodal as for general traffic, railroads face significant challenges to efficiently compete with trucking in offering customers timely, flexible, and low-cost, long-haul transportation services.Railroads are rising to the challenge by proposing new types of services and enhanced performances. Thus, North-American railroads have created intermodal subdivisions that operate so-called land-bridges providing efficient container transportation by long, double-stack train between the East and the West coasts and between these ports and the industrial core of the continent (so-called mini land bridges). Most North-American railroads are now enforcing some form of scheduled service. In Europe, where congestion has long forced the scheduling of trains, the separation of the infrastructure ownership from service providing increases the competition and favors the emergence of new carriers and services. Moreover, the expansion of the Community to the east provides the opportunity to