CONTEXT AND

COMPONENTS
Chapter 2. Transportation System

Adopted from lecture of J.M.Sussman, MIT

Context – the social-political-economic context

• Public-Policy Lever • Large-Scale Infrastructure

with long-term impact
• Private-Sector Investment
• Environmental Impact –
• Industrial Base (e.g. auto Sustainable Systems
and shipbuilding industries)
• Energy Issues
• Economic Development
• Equity Issues
• Employer
Transportation System
Internal Components

• Physical System

• Management

• Labor
Internal
Components Physical Components

Physical
• Infrastructure (guideway, terminals and
Components
stations)
Management • Vehicles
• Power Systems
• Fuel
Labor • Control, Communications and Locations
Systems
Infrastructure
• Guideways : special • Terminals/Stations
purpose vs general - Rail freight yards
purpose
- Container port
- highway
- Airports
- Railroad
- Bus stations
- Pipeline
- Transit stations
- Air corridors
- Street corner bus
stops/taxi stands
Vehicles
• Automobiles
• Rail Locomotives
• Airplanes
• Tractor Trailer
• Truck Trailers
• Railroad Cars
• Containers
Vehicles Characteristics
• Crashworthiness
• Degree of Automation
• Energy Source : Internal vs External
• Weight
• Material
• Aerodynamics
• Emissions
Equipment

• Loading Crane at Container Port

• Railroad Track Maintenance
Equipment
• Airport Baggage Handling
• Snow Removal Vehicles
Power Systems

• Internal Combustion • Humans

Engine • Animals
• Diesel Engine • Gravity
• Electric Motors • Windmill
• Hybrid Engines • Solar Panels
• Fuel Cells • Tidal Baffles
Fuel

• Gasoline • Electricity (as

generated)
• Natural gas
• Electricity ( as in an
• Diesel
onboard battery)
• Coal
• Wind
• Solar energy
• hydrogen
• Tides/currents
Control, Communications and Location
Systems
• Humans • Technology
• Driver • Traffic lights
• Sensors (eg. Loop detectors)
• Controllers (as in air
traffic) • Fleet management systems

• dispatcher • Automated vehicles

• Block control (railroad)
• Global positioning system (GPS)
• Intelligent transport system (ITS)
Internal Management
Components

Physical
Components
• Marketing : what do costumer want?
• Intramodal
Management
• Intermodal
• Intersectoral (eg. Transportation vs. communication)

Labor
Management

• Planning
• Strategic planning (eg. Building the network, buying the vehicles)
• Operations planning (eg. Creating an operations plan)

• Operations
• NB: Distinct from opertions planning (eg. actually running the system)
Management
• Maintenance management

• Information Management

• Operations Research

• Administration
Cost/Level-of-Service Trade-Off

Do we provide direct, high-quality service from A

to C?
Or do we consolidate passengers at Node B with
other passengers from Node D, into a single flight
from B to C?

Here we have some fundamental cost/LOS trade-

off

Which pattern does the VP-Marketing like?

How about the VP-operations?
Contengency Planning

What do we do when things go worng?

How do we decide how to alter out operating plan

to reflect changes in weather, demand for service
and accidents ---- such as derailment?
Internal Labor
Components
• Drivers
Physical
Components
• Dispatchers
Management

• Fare collectors

Labor • Mechanics
END