An Analysis of Container Yard Management of Rail Freight System: A Case Study of Rubber Product in Southern

Abstract

The objective of this research is to determine the appropriate number of Container Yard (CY) for rubber product transportation using railway in Southern of Thailand. The location allocation problem concept (LAP) and ArcGIS 10.2 program are employed for this research. There are three circumstances to analyze this problem: 1) modal shift from road to rail using two existing CYs, 2) modal shift from road to rail using two existing CYs and four new CYs according to Thai Railway plan, and 3) modal shift from road to rail using two existing CYs and five new CYs resulting from group discussions. The result indicates that the third situation with 7 CYs provides the lowest transportation cost. The transportation cost decreases from 1,097,496,213 Baht/year to 898,307,550 Baht/year, or 421,322,210 Baht/year, reduction accounted for 32 percent. All in all, an appropriate modal shift in freight transport shows a potential in transportation cost reduction. With this in mind, the paper develops a vision of an efficient rail freight system in Southern of Thailand.