Decision-making support for intermodal freight transportation

In case of major events or disasters, rescue and emergency forces basically use their internal information and communication systems. But when increasing traffic endangers emergency measures or the transportation of people and goods, emergency forces often rely on their experience of infrastructure and routing traffic. Their situation’s estimation incorporates a limited view of scale and field of operation, rather than an overall, wide-scale view involving various stakeholders. Therefore, at an earlier stage the DLR developed and tested a demonstration portal which supports decision-making by providing consolidated information and operation recommendations towards individual motor car traffic based on traffic simulation. The portal provides, e.g., aerial image data, maps, isochrones of journey time and current regional traffic information. In the event of the collapse of road traffic and the necessity to sustain the transportation of goods, intermodal freight transportation is essential. Therefore, in a first prototype implementation the existing portal is extended by other modes of transportation as well as required reloading sites for the region of Brunswick. Vehicle types, follow-up and trans-shipment models are defined to enable simulation-based recommendations for operation. The portal’s expansion provides a wide range of information regarding passenger and goods transportation. These include data of infrastructure and points of interests of the different modes of transportation, average data concerning transported goods and contact data of emergency forces for coordination. The portal presents a prototype of the consolidation of intermodal infrastructure information. In the future, the integration of real-time intermodal traffic data and simulation is aimed at as well as real-life application by authorities.