Optimization of interaction of automobile and railway transport in container terminals

The article describes the main processes taking place at the automobile-railway container terminal. The article highlights the main economic entities of automobile and railway communication, including the owner of the railway infrastructure, the operator of railway rolling stock, a container terminal and a road carrier. A method is proposed to determine the optimal working parameters of terminal complexes, which is based on minimization of expenses of the transportation process participants. The need to revise the criteria for optimizing the calculation of the optimal number of loading and unloading mechanisms is determined, taking into account the expenses for excessive downtime of motor vehicles under loading (unloading), exceeding the planned execution time of the activities and costs regarding the idle time of railway rolling stock on the general use roads in waiting for the operations of loading (unloading). The method under consideration assumes that arrival of containers is a random flow of events, and the entire complex of the terminal’s technical equipment is a channel of service. Also, the incoming flow of containers is classified based on the weight characteristics. Results of the research show that in the process of calculating the optimal number of loading and unloading mechanisms, it is advisable to take into account the expenses connected with unproductive downtime of the rolling stock, and the additional time spent on deconsolidation of cargo, as well as the possibility of delivering lightweight containers in pairs, significantly affects the handling performance of the incoming flow of containers at the terminal.