See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/284617638

RAILWAY INDUSTRIAL TRACK AS THE LAST MILE IN SUPPLY CHAIN

MANAGEMENT

Conference Paper · November 2014

CITATIONS READS

0 364

3 authors:

Borna Abramović Nikolina Brnjac

University of Zagreb University of Zagreb
35 PUBLICATIONS   84 CITATIONS    11 PUBLICATIONS   33 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Jasmina Pašagić Škrinjar

University of Zagreb
14 PUBLICATIONS   20 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Research about PSO (Public Service Obligation contract) influence at passenger operator. Investigation how passenger operator organization influence on subvention
methodology calculation regarding to passenger public services. View project

Adapting railway operator in the integrated passenger transport system View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Borna Abramović on 30 November 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 International Conference on Traffic and Transport Engineering - Belgrade, November 27-28, 2014

RAILWAY INDUSTRIAL TRACK AS THE LAST MILE IN SUPPLY CHAIN

MANAGEMENT - BORNA ABRAMOVIĆ, NIKOLINA BRNJAC, JASMINA
PAŠAGIĆ ŠKRINJAR
Borna Abramović1, Nikolina Brnjac2, Jasmina Pašagić Škrinjar3
1
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Vukelićeva 4, HR – 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract: Today’s transport of goods has renaissance in using again railway as part of transport chain. In the past because of inert
railway the very big amounts of goods go to road transport. Of course, in these days, it is very ecologically to do modal shift from
road to railway. Therefore, the railway is again one of the key player in transport chain. Supply chain management is integrated
approach for solving all movements of good form point of origin to point of destination. Specially, last five years is very intensive
research and use of supply chain management. Normally, every transport have last and first mile, so it is very pragmatic to optimize
this step in whole transport chain. With the greater role of railway in whole supply chain management the last mile become very
significant. In today’s railway, last mile is on more than 85% of transport goods on railway industrial track. Therefore, it is very
important to optimize every aspect of using railway industrial track. Key aspects are (1) legal, (2) organizational, (3) technical, ( 4)
technological and (5) economic. All those five aspects are crucial for using of railway industrial track as the part of suppl y chain
management. In this article, it will be present case study of using the railway industrial track in Croatia and interaction and
optimization of key aspects.

Keywords: railway industrial track, supply chain management, goods

1. Introduction

Today’s world economy it’s not possible without transport. For business is very important to have stable, safety and
cheap transport. In last decade was many optimization methods use to cut down cost of transport. One of most complex
method for optimizing transport process is Supply Chain Management. Main goal of Supply Chain Management is to
create a chain of suppliers that focuses on maximizing value to the ultimate customer. Supply Chain Management is the
integration of the activities that procure materials and services, transform them into intermediate goods and final
products, and deliver them through a distribution system. Because of that we can talk today that is no longer
competition between companies but competition is between supply chains.
Standard Supply Chain has: (1) supplier, (2) manufacturer, (3) distributer, (4) retailer and (5) customers. For transport
way of thinking it’s important which transport mode it uses for connection in the most cost effective way. Two most
cost effective transport modes are water (maritime and inland water) and railway. On area where is not possible to use
water transport as a rule in transport chain is using railway. Unfortunately for railway because of too long transit times,
regardless of transport cost, very often is use road transport. Therefore, for railway operators the crucial thing is to find
practical ways to cut down the transit times. One of the methods to cut down transit time is using of Railway Industrial
Track for first and last mile. Considering the technology in railway freight transport, the Railway Industrial Track is the
most frequent starting and end points of the technological process. The adjective “industrial” in the name of these tracks
originates from the times of the advent of railways and the establishment of the railway stations. The development of
the railway was closely connected with the expansion of the industrial production method which required mass
transport of goods. The first Railway Industrial Track were constructed in order to connect the stations with big
industrial and production plants, mines, ports and quays, where mass goods, especially coal, timber and iron ore were
loaded and unloaded. By using the Railway Industrial Track the railway operators provide “door-to-door” service, thus
being competitive to road traffic, and the user can directly load/unload their goods at their premises, in fact,
comprehensive transport service is offered. When railway use industrial track they can be very important player in chain
supply management.

2. Last Mile in Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management is an integrated approach to planning, implementing and controlling the flow of
information, materials and services from raw material and component suppliers through the manufacturing of the
finished product for ultimate distribution to the end customer. It includes the systematic integration of processes for
demand planning, customer relationship collaboration, order fulfilment/delivery, product/service launch,
manufacturing/operations planning and control, supplier relationship collaboration, life cycle support, and reverse
logistics and their associated risks. These processes, which employ a combination of people, systems and technology,
can be performed by the firm itself or in collaboration with external supply chain partners.
Supply Chain Management is strategic in orientation and recognizes that the competitive strength of a firm is not only
determined by its products but also by the operations and activities that place the products into customers’ hands and
provide supporting services. Efficient and effective Supply Chain Management enhances firm performance and adds
value by increasing asset utilization to gain competitive market advantage. The responsiveness and efficiency of a
company’s supply chain arising from its design and management is integral to the firm’s ability to successfully compete
in the global marketplace.

1
Corresponding author: borna.abramovic@fpz.hr

890
 International Conference on Traffic and Transport Engineering - Belgrade, November 27-28, 2014

Because of that we can talk today that is no longer competition between companies but competition is between supply
chains.
Standard Supply Chain has: (1) supplier, (2) manufacturer, (3) distributor, (4) and retailers (5) customers. Between each
element comes to the transport process. Sometimes the transport process can be only internal, for example when the
same company distributor and retailers, but much more naturally and with external transport process. In the literature
usually greater emphasis is on the last mile because represents final link to the customer. But in the transport process
first mile is as important as the last mile.
The Last Mile is a common distribution problem where near the destination a high capacity long distance transport
system is facing high costs and complexity. This is mainly related to the need to break down the size of the transport
unit (less economies of scale) and where congestion impairs reliability as well as capacity. Three major elements impact
the effectiveness of last mile logistics:
 Terminal operations,
 Drayage operations, and
 Warehousing.

The efficiency of terminal operations in terms of capacity, turnover and gate access, will impact last mile logistics
because a significant segment of freight flows are originating or bound to a terminal (maritime, rail or barge).
The standard last mile problem for drayage (movement to and from a terminal) is congestion on local and regional
roads, commonly due to a lack of capacity. This particularly takes place at bottlenecks such as highway interchanges,
bridges and tolls. Since containers are carried on chassis. Deliveries (movement from a distribution centre), often done
in less-than-truckload fashion, are also a fundamental part of the process. Solution for this problem is in using the
Railway Industrial Track.
Warehousing is a distribution centre that can be used for capabilities of performing deliveries on time. So it’s very
important element in last mile.
The economics of transporting cargo theoretical distribution costs on the initial/final and transport sequence costs based
on different response of these costs in the transport process. In fact, the costs per unit of transport (km) decrease with
increasing distance at which the transport is performed. Practically, the size of the expenses incurred during the
initial/final works, in cargo transport does not depend on the distance of transport. Therefore, the initial/final costs
behave fixed according to distance of transport. If the distance is greater, then the cost of the initial/final work is
distributed to a larger number of units and their size per unit decreases. In contrast, the cost of transport sequence
increased with increasing distance at which the transfer takes place. Therefore, the cost to transport sequence usually
said to be relatively variable distances behave.

Fig. 1.
First and Last Mile Unit Cost
Source: Rodrigue, J-P. et. al. 2013

3. Supply Chain Management and Railway Industrial Track

In order that elements of Supply Chain were interconnected transport is needed. The connection of the elements and the
transport is shown in Figure 2. Therefore, without transport, the internal as well the external, no meaningful Supply
Chain can be made. Meaning of Supply Chain is that in certain point of time and space provide customers a certain
amount of goods. The most important task is to optimize Supply Chain costs from supplier to customers while matching
the demand and the supply. Just matching the demand and the supply has some difficulties:
• Uncertainty in demand and/or supply,
• Changing customer requirements,
• Decreasing product life cycles,
• Fragmentation of supply chain ownership,
• Conflicting objectives in the supply chain, and
• Conflicting objectives even within a single firm.

891
 International Conference on Traffic and Transport Engineering - Belgrade, November 27-28, 2014

Interesting relationship is between marketing/sales, production and distribution. From one side Marketing/Sales wants
to have more Finished Goods Inventory (FGI), fast delivery, many package types and special wishes/promotions then
Production wants to have bigger batch size, depots at factory, latest ship date, decrease changeovers and stable
production plan but distribution wants to have full truckload, low depot costs, low distribution costs, small number of
stock keeping units (SKUs) and stable distribution plan.

Fig. 2.
Elements of Supply Chain
Source: Ballou, R. H. 2003

In fact, the chain that connects the above requirements is transport. Therefore transport has an important role stabilizing
Supply Chain. Transport has different modes and the Supply Chain chooses for one of transport mode that can provide
transport to the default time with certain quantity of goods for a certain amount of money. Thus, there is a healthy
competition between modes, but also healthy competition between different service providers of each transport mode.
Considering that there are three essential factors for choosing the transport mode: (1) the quantity, (2) the time and (3)
price. Their mutual mix will give the transport mode selection. Of course, each transport mode has its advantages and
disadvantages. Supply Chain Manager must have decision to choose a transport mode and then operator for having
transport services. In the process of transport in the Supply Chain there is needed to transport large quantities of goods
in a relatively short time. In land transport choice should fall on the railways. Railway in Europe, in the last few
decades, had experience of the challenges of liberalization and for that reason must necessarily be closer to the user.
Very effective way of approaching the customer's is use of Industrial Railway Track.

4. Advantages of using Railway Industrial Track

Today, with the intensive demands for transport service the transport chain plays the main role. The transport chain
represents a connection between the “origin” and the “destination” for the purpose of transport service using adequate
means, routes and technology of operation, thus in fact forming the optimal transport system. In surface transport, road
transport dominates as opposed to railway transport, although both road and railway transport should be
complementary. The historical fact is that railway transport is mass transport, i.e. it is always connected with big
industrial complexes – users. The users have realized the advantages of railway freight transport and they constructed
their own tracks within their premises. In fact, the tracks that diverge from the stations or from open railway lines, and
serve for the needs of one or several users are called Railway Industrial Track. Railway Industrial Track are privately
owned by various companies, mainly big users in the area of seaports, river ports, oil companies, logistic centres and
production activities where there is demand for mass transport of freight. Within the company area the user may be only
one, but regularly the tracks fork out into groups intended for handling activities. If the length of the basic Railway
Industrial Track amounts to several hundred metres or several kilometres, it is often called an industrial or railway line,
i.e. the area that includes the Railway Industrial Track is called a railway complex.
It is precisely the dominance of road traffic that allows provision of “door-to-door” service and owing to the existence
of Railway Industrial Track the railways has covered the method of providing full transport “door-to-door” service and
is thus trying to keep its place on the market.
The Railway Industrial Track is very important both for the users and for the railways. This is necessary in order to
strengthen the competitiveness on the transport market and to return to the leading position in land freight transport
which objectively does belong to the railways because of numerous advantages. The significance of Railway Industrial
Track can be observed from the users’ aspect and from the railway operator’s aspect.

892
 International Conference on Traffic and Transport Engineering - Belgrade, November 27-28, 2014

The advantages of Railway Industrial Track to users:

 Direct delivery of wagon consignments to the place of production activities within the company,
 Shorter time of goods handling,
 Minimal damaging of goods,
 Avoiding of significant handling costs,
 Saving on handling costs by using adequate proper machinery, and
 Total lower transport costs due to the selection of railways as cost-affordable land operator.
Advantages of Railway Industrial Track for the railways:
 Possibility of starting direct trains,
 Disburdening of station handling tracks,
 Shorter time of wagon turnover,
 Direct connection of internal and international railway transport, and
 Formation of a solid and permanent contact with the big users.

Owing to the advantages of Railway Industrial Track, habits are created of using railway transport, and this is the main
precondition for the survival on the transport market.

5. Technological Process at Railway Industrial Track

The technological process represents a recipe how to successfully create a transport service. Successful transport service
can be created if there is excellent technological process. In fact, the technological process contains activities that need
to be carried out in order to transport the freight efficiently and effectively. The technological process may be divided
into macro and micro process. The macro technological process includes all aspects of freight transport, whereas micro
technological process includes activities required to successfully create the transport service at a concrete place of work,
for a concrete freight. Macro technological process has the following phases:
1. Research of transport market,
2. Tasks of initial end activities,
3. Activities at railway station,
4. Transport activities, and
5. Activities of organizing and managing the transport process.

The study of transport market is the basic origin of creating the transport service. The most important part of the
transport market research is to determine the demand. The demand is the payment capability of the users to use the
transport service. The study of demand is a scientifically founded process which can be defined at the level of the
railway station, railway line and network in general. The railway station is the origin-end points of the transport process
and they are in fact generators of goods for transport. Of special interest here is the Railway Industrial Track which are
used by the users traditionally related to railway traffic. In the first place these are ports and quays, industrial complexes
and big economy centres. The railway line has its capacity and therefore it is necessary to study the supply – demand
relation. Since the transport of goods can be performed from any railway station to any other railway station, then it is
necessary to look at the research from the network aspect, in this step the freight flows are of special significance.
The initial activities understand acceptance of goods for transport. Before the very physical acceptance of goods for
transport, it is necessary to order the wagon(s) and to apply for the customs, sanitary and phytopathological inspection.
After that a consignment note is filled in and the price of the transport service determined. The transport process is
followed by the final activities, which means delivery of wagons to Railway Industrial Track, check of the transport
price and if necessary, a claim.
At railway station the setting of wagons on Railway Industrial Track is organized and after loading/unloading the
wagons are included in the train. Also, if Railway Industrial Track is not fitted with a scale the wagons are weighed. At
railway station usually the wagon technical inspection is carried out as well.
In the transport process the wagons may be, as required, assembled or disassembled in trains, their order and
composition can be changed. If required, during the transport process the additional freezing can be done, as well as
repair of freight and possible removal of buffer wagons.
The management activities are in fact responsible for solving the technological process at a tactical level. This means
the development of technical regulations of loading/unloading, scheduling, regulation of work with customs and other
bodies, development of transport conditions for special shipments, and human resources management in the field. The
term transport process management means that one can detect at any moment the location of a wagon or a shipment,
and realize constant connection with the users, informing them about the transport procedure. On the other hand,
transport process management is the operative level which accompanies and controls the entire transport process.
Today, the user wants to have, and this is possible technologically and technically, the information about the entire flow
of the transport process.
The micro technological process regulates: activities, places, contractors and time necessary for successfully performed
loading/unloading of goods into and from the wagons. In order to develop this, it is necessary to know the following
elements:

893
 International Conference on Traffic and Transport Engineering - Belgrade, November 27-28, 2014

1. Opening hours of the railway station and the Railway Industrial Track,
2. Place of handling of individual types of goods,
3. The handling mechanisation means,
4. Setting wagons for loading and unloading,
5. Ratio of company areas with Railway Industrial Track,
6. Regulations of working with goods, and
7. Regulations of work with special goods.

Entering into the company circle, the Railway Industrial Track eliminate the need for indirect participation of road
vehicles in delivery, handling and turning out and allow dispatch/acceptance of wagon shipments from the area of the
corporate subjects.
Loading or unloading of goods on Railway Industrial Track is performed within the area of the user, in 95% carried out
by the user, who in this case may be the sender or the receiver. During loading the authorized railway worker supervises
it or in agreement with the operator this is done by the users themselves.

6. Case Study: in Croatia

6.1. Condition of Railway Industrial Track

Today 870 industrial tracks of total construction length of over 500 km are connected to the railway network in the
Republic of Croatia. In 2009 there were 314 basic Railway Industrial Tracks registered on the network, which means
that 556 tracks have been abandoned, or as much as 63.91% and because of poor maintenance there is threat of further
abandoning of Railway Industrial Tracks. When 146 temporary closed and inactive tracks are taken into consideration,
the number of unused basic tracks rises to 702 and the percentage amounts to a high 80.69%. Thus, today in the
Republic of Croatia there are 168 basic industrial tracks at which manipulative freight activities are performed. This
means that only 53.50% of registered tracks are used. There is also substantial fall in the number of active users whose
average annual rate in the last five years amounted to -1.84%, and the share of active users in their total number
amounts to 41.89%.
The abandoning of industrial tracks has been caused to a great extent by the changes in economy because of which the
existing network of industrial tracks does not match any more the actual customers’ needs.
The average static load of wagons on industrial tracks in the Republic of Croatia amounts to 42 tons/wagon and is
greater than the one at railway station tracks where it amounts to 31 tons/wagon. Based on this, one could conclude that
industrial tracks are in good technical condition. However, this refers mainly to industrial tracks of big customers,
whose share in the scope of work of the entire network is about 75%. If 168 active industrial tracks are taken into
consideration, then about 150 industrial tracks remain at which the condition is rather poor. Currently, these industrial
tracks do not contribute significantly to the railway freight transport as the tracks of big customers, but in no way
should they be neglected. At most of them better results would be achieved in better working conditions.
The majority of tracks were constructed 30 years ago and more, when the railways dominated in the freight transport.
Then even the tracks constructed in difficult terrain conditions were connected to the network. Today, it is precisely
these tracks that present the biggest problem since they require more complex and more expensive maintenance. A
group of such industrial tracks features too low permitted axle load which makes it impossible to use maximal capacity
of the wagons, thus increasing their number. It is often the case that their value of permitted axle load is not in harmony
with that on the connection railway line. At time of the construction, the designed parameters of the railway lines and of
the industrial tracks were compatible. After the reconstruction of the railway lines that have been actual on the HŽ
network in the last decade, their permitted axle load has been raised, and on industrial tracks it remained at the previous
level. This reduces the possibility of maximal usage of wagons and this eventually reflects on the operation of the entire
network. The biggest problems occur during the need for reconstruction of single tracks since this refers to high costs
that sometimes, apart from the reconstruction of the permanent way and substructure of the tracks include also the
reconstruction of structures such as bridges, viaducts, water ducts and cuttings. Their reconstruction requires large
financial investments. This refers also to the construction of new tracks. When the potential user realizes how expensive
it is to build the tracks, they often give up and orientate themselves to the usage of other modes of transport.
Current and investment maintenance of industrial tracks in the customer’s area is entirely financed by their owners who
face high costs. The place which represents the demarcation point between the user and HŽ-Infrastructure regarding
financing of maintenance costs is the deviation point or derailer which separates the industrial tracks from the
connection railway station or railway line. The maintenance of the deviation point or derailer and the respective
signalling and safety devices, and the catenary on the electrified tracks is financed by HŽ-Infrastructure Ltd.
The industrial tracks have to be maintained according to adequate standards and technical regulations of the railway
sector of the Republic of Croatia. If due to neglect of this requirement (by the owner) the condition of the industrial
tracks threatens the safety of traffic and people, HŽ-Infrastructure Ltd has the right to stop the delivery of wagons to the
industrial tracks. Regular monthly inspections of the technical condition of all the tracks are carried out by the Section
of railway line maintenance from HŽ-Infrastructure Ltd.

894
 International Conference on Traffic and Transport Engineering - Belgrade, November 27-28, 2014

6.2. Analysis of Survey Questionnaires

The research was carried out with the goal of establishing the need for the modernisation of the existing and the
construction of new industrial tracks, with emphasis on the need for construction of industrial tracks in the area of
business and free zones that are 2 kilometre distance from railway line. The establishment of the need to build industrial
tracks was carried out through a survey of business entities in the subject zones. The questionnaire consisted of 16
questions designed to show the indicators of business entities' operations and the need for the modernisation of the
existing and the construction of new industrial tracks. Since a large number of business entities did not respond to the e-
mailed survey questionnaire and even after a telephone conversation, field research was further carried out. Field
research was carried out in cooperation with HŽ Cargo Ltd.
The survey has included 518 business entities operating in business and free zones, of which 134 responded to the
survey, the respond ratio was 26%. The highest number of survey participants, 75% even, deals in production of
finished goods and the highest number of business entities, 32% of them, use up over 25 tons of cargo per week. In the
survey was established that 86% of participants use solid matter. When we look transport units 19% of business entities
use containers for packing their products, 80% use palettes, 19% of them transport bulk freight and 47% transport single
items. On figure 3 is shown which transport modes use business entities for goods delivery.

Fig. 3.
Transport modes which use business entities for goods delivery
Source: Authors

To the question “Who performs the reloading?” 90% of business entities answered that they are reloading the goods
themselves, for 48% of them it is performed by the operator and for 7% by a broker. Response analysis established that
the business entities performing the goods' reloading themselves are those which transport the goods on palettes and in
trucks. Reloading of goods is performed by the operators mostly for those entities operating in wood industry. To the
question “Who organises the transport?” 82% of business entities answered that their own logistics organises the
transport and for 48% of them it is organised by a freight forwarder/logistician. The result of answers to this question is
interesting both for the operators and the companies dealing in logistics in the Republic of Croatia, considering that a
large number of business entities is organising the transport by themselves. On figure 4 is shown which transport
distance for goods delivery.

Fig. 4.
Transport distances for goods delivery
Source: Authors

895
 International Conference on Traffic and Transport Engineering - Belgrade, November 27-28, 2014

The analysis showed that the survey participants, 34% of them, believe that construction and use of an industrial track
would help the development of their company. The survey questionnaire further included the question “Your opinion
about the railway transport and proposal for better cooperation?” Herein, the persons filling out the questionnaire could
indicate their opinion about the railway and their proposals for better cooperation between the railway operator and
their companies. It can be concluded from the responses that the majority of business entities operating in the zones are
not satisfied with the services provided to them by the railway. They believe that the service quality does not
correspond with the price. A part of the business entities had a bad experience in transporting goods by railway and
does not want to use the services of railway transport. Some say that they were forced to stop transporting their products
by railway because their customer failed to receive the goods on time. Other part of survey participants believes that an
industrial track within the area of their company would benefit the company's development, because they are
transporting cargo by railway and the extra reloading at the railway yard incurs costs. They would invest part of the
funds in construction of an industrial track because they are aware the investment would be worthwhile in the future.

7. Conclusion

Supply Chain Management is an integrated approach to planning, implementing and controlling the flow of
information, materials and services from raw material and component suppliers through the manufacturing of the
finished product for ultimate distribution to the end customer. Meaning of Supply Chain is that in certain point of time
and space provide customers a certain amount of goods. The most important task is to optimize Supply Chain costs
from supplier to customers while matching the demand and the supply. Because of that we can talk today that is no
longer competition between companies but competition is between Supply Chains. Standard Supply Chain has: (1)
supplier, (2) manufacturer, (3) distributor, (4) and retailers (5) customers. In order that elements of Supply Chain were
interconnected transport is needed. Therefore transport has an important role stabilizing Supply Chain.
The Last Mile is a common distribution problem where near the destination a high capacity long distance transport
system is facing high costs and complexity. This is mainly related to the need to break down the size of the transport
unit (less economies of scale) and where congestion impairs reliability as well as capacity.
There are three essential factors for choosing the transport mode: (1) the quantity, (2) the time and (3) price. Their
mutual mix will give the transport mode selection. Of course, each transport mode has its advantages and
disadvantages. Supply Chain Manager must have decision to choose a transport mode and then operator for having
transport services. In the process of transport in the Supply Chain there is needed to transport large quantities of goods
in a relatively short time. In land transport choice should fall on the railways. Railway in Europe, in the last few
decades, had experience of the challenges of liberalization and for that reason must necessarily be closer to the user.
Very effective way of approaching the customer's is use of Industrial Railway Track.
The management on the Railway Industrial Track can be improved in several ways that depend on the nature of the
problems of individual tracks. Generally, one could say that the basic assumption of good organization of work is the
rationalization of the technological process which has to insure timely delivery and turning out of the wagons from the
users’ areas. In fact, based on the management on the Railway Industrial Track there are macro, as strategic and tactical
and micro, as operative technological processes. In producing them all the stakeholders should participate, which means
in this case the customer, operator, and railway infrastructure manager. In this way a win-win position is realized for all
the transport service participants.
The analysis of Railway Industrial Track with respect to their technical condition and ownership of the same, as well as
the analysis of part of the issues related to the construction of new Railway Industrial Track, suggests that it is
necessary to consider several possible proposals on the manner of encouraging the modernisation and the construction
of Railway Industrial Track.
The conducted research shows that Railway Industrial Track are a logical extension of the railway infrastructure, as
well as an important part of the railway traffic system and the traffic system as a whole and can be use efficiently and
effectively in Supply Chain. A higher quality railway transport system improves the economic picture of a particular
region, saves money for transport infrastructure, reduces energy consumption, protects the environment and increases
traffic safety. On account of all this, the Railway Industrial Track issue should be approached very seriously and much
more dedication and money should be invested into solving the issue, all with the goal of finding a quality solution for
the modernisation, the construction and the management of Railway Industrial Track.
Having all advantages in mind for the Railway Industrial Track they can be excellent solution of last mile issue and of
course one of necessary chain in Supply Chain Management.

896
 International Conference on Traffic and Transport Engineering - Belgrade, November 27-28, 2014

References

Abramović, B., Karatur, D., Lacković, Z. 2013. Modelling train cost in HZ Cargo d.o.o. In Proceedings of the 21nd
International Symposium EURO - Zel 2014, 6-13

Abramović, B., Lovrić, I., Stupalo, V. 2012. Analysis of intermodal terminals service quality in the Republic of Croatia,
Promet- Traffic & Transportation 4(24): 253-260

Abramović, B.; Tuškanec, M. 2010: Industrial tracks used for freight rail transport. In Proceedings of 13th International
Conference on Traffic Science (ICTS), CD.

Ballou, R. H. 2003: Business Logistics: Supply Chain Management, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 816

Berndet, T. 2001: Eisenbahngüterverkehr (Railway Freight Traffic), Teubner, Stuttgart - Leibzig - Wiesbaden, 296
Bogović, B. 2006: Prijevozi u željezničkom prometu (Transport in Railway Traffic), University of Zagreb, Faculty of
Transport and Traffic Sciences, Zagreb, 280

Brnjac, N.; Abramović, B., Štefičar, S.; Sučić, M. 2013: Importance of industrial tracks in the Republic of Croatia. In
XV Riunione Scientifica della Società Italiana di Economia dei Trasporti e della Logistica (SIET), CD

Rodrigue, J-P.; Comtois, C.; Slack, B. 2013: The Geography of Transport Systems, Routledge, New York, 432

Heyl, J.; Heizer, J.; Render, B. 2006: Principles of Operations Management, Pearson - Prentice Hall, New Jersey
Supply Chain Operations Reference-model (SCOR). Available from Internet: <https://supply-chain.org/our-
frameworks>

897

View publication stats