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Modelling Freight Generation and Distribution for Nationwide Interstate Freight Movement

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Abstract

Freight modelling is very important to understand how freight moves from one place to another place. Due to data and other resource constraints like time and cost of conducting surveys, freight models are not available for various countries. Overcoming these constraints, freight generation and distribution models are developed using secondary sources of data. The primary motivation of the study is to understand the different factors on which freight generation depends upon. This is accomplished by building ordinary least squares regression models. Net State Domestic Product, Area, Agricultural Area, Secondary sector workers, Petroleum and Electricity Consumption of the Traffic Analysis Zones are the factors that affect freight generation. The secondary motivation of the study is to estimate the friction factors for the gravity model by calibration using three-dimensional furness procedure, being used for the first time in freight distribution. The important contributions of this paper are an improved understanding of freight movement patterns at the regional level and the estimation of friction factors that can be used for predicting future freight movements when origin–destination data are not available.

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(data source: TTSS-RITES Ltd., 2008)

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Notes

  1. 65.2% in 1978–1979 to 32.2% in 2007–2008 (Total Transport System Study 2007–2008).

  2. RITES Ltd. [1] estimates that the total loss incurred on transportation in financial year 2007–2008 amounts to ₹384.7 billion.

  3. Conducted nationwide every five years in United States to obtain the data pertaining to freight corresponding to various commodities generated from or attracted to a geographic area, usually a county.

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Acknowledgements

Most of the data utilized in this study were obtained from the website of the Planning Commission of India and the authors would like to acknowledge it. Also, the authors acknowledge the opportunity to present the research work that forms the basis of this article at the 12th Conference on Transportation Planning and Implementation Methodologies for Developing Countries (TPMDC) (India) held during 19–21 December 2016. They thank the reviewers for the comments on the manuscript which helped them in improving the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, Telangana, 506004, India

    Mounisai Siddartha Middela, Sasanka Bhushan Pulipati & C. S. R. K. Prasad

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600036, India

    Mounisai Siddartha Middela

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Correspondence to Mounisai Siddartha Middela.

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Middela, M.S., Pulipati, S.B. & Prasad, C.S.R.K. Modelling Freight Generation and Distribution for Nationwide Interstate Freight Movement. Transp. in Dev. Econ. 4, 6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40890-018-0059-z

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