Time Restraint-BasedM odel and Algorithm for Railway EmptyW agon Distribution

Traditionalmathematical optimalmodels for empty wagon distribution do not consider the time efficiency of emptywagon distribution and efficientusage ofemptywagons by loading them where they are or in the neighboring stations. To overcome the shortcomings of the traditionalmodels, a new model and its algorithm were proposed. In the proposedmode,l time restraintwas taken into accoun,t and the distribution ofboth loaded and emptywagons is calculated bymaking good use of the available emptywagons in the stations where they are to be delivered to decrease the delivering distances of emptywagons. The feasibility of the proposedmodel and algorithm was verifiedwith an example.