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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Models of travel time and reliability for freight transport

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6801010

The model produces a probability distribution of the trip time associated with the shipment of freight between a given origin and destination by a given mode and route. Using distributions of the type produced by the model, it is possible to determine two important measures of the quality of service offered by the carrier. These measures are the main travel time and the reliability of delivery. The reliability measure describes the spread of the travel-time distribution. The model described herein was developed originally as part of the railroad rationalization study conducted at MIT and sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration. This work built upon earlier research in railroad reliability models. Because of the predominantly rail background of this model, the initial discussion focuses on the problem of modeling rail-trip-time reliability. Then, it is shown that the model can also be used to study truck and barge operations.

Research Organization:
Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge (USA). Center for Transportation Studies
OSTI ID:
6801010
Report Number(s):
CTS-76-16
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English