Research On The Optimization Of Circulation Express Train Operating Station Selection Within One Railway Administration

With the Economic New Normal in China, the structure of industries and demands is changing deeply. Traditional industries continue eliminating excess capacity in the process of transformation. Thus, the consumption of bulk materials, such as metal ore and coal, is declining. And the long-distance transportation market keeps shrinking, in which the railway has obvious advantages. While the high-end manufacturing and electronic commerce is developing rapidly in China, the proportion of high value-added cargoes and consumer goods, represented by precision instruments and 3C products, in the supply structure of cargoes is improving. At the same time, the market also puts forward higher requirements for the quality of service. As advanced production methods, like "flexible manufacturing" and "Make-to-Order", are widely used, the characteristics of market demand turn into being fewer quantity, higher frequency, faster and more accurate.In order to adapt this situation, China Railway Corporation continued pushing forward the reform of railway freight organization, launched cargo express business, and transported the Circulation Express Trains. These "Five Sets" Scheduled trains have not only enriched the product system of railway freight transportation, but also obtained economic benefit. However, there is a prominent issue that the selected operating station is too close. It greatly impacts on the efficiency of transport and increases the level of scale and difficulty of the railway express infrastructure and equipment reform. As a result, it restricts the improvement of the competitiveness. Therefore, the research on the operating station selection optimization of Circulation Express Trains has great theoretical and practical significance in improving the efficiency of transport, enhancing competitiveness and building a more environmentally friendly and efficient logistics system.Based on the related research project of China Railway Corporation, through large survey and data analysis, this thesis conducts the systemic research on the operating station selection and has the following results:(1) On the base of summarizing the domestic and international express logistics development, this thesis analyzes the problems of the Circulation Express Trains and determines the cause of the problem is the selection of the operating station. According to the divisions and types of stations, this thesis defines the content of the optimization of operating station selection, and analyzes the necessity and feasibility of the optimization.(2) This thesis analyzes the target markets and cargo categories of the Circulation Express Trains, designs the prediction method of market demands in the target year, summarizes the method of analyzing the shortest-time transport path, then, builds the model of the optimization of operating station selection.(3) Using Jingjinji cargo express train as an example, after the actual survey and data analysis, this thesis forecasts the volume of OD demands between the stations of Jingjinji cargo express train, analyzes the shortest transport time, calculates the optimization scheme of operating station selection, and evaluates the result to verify its feasibility.