Interactive Decisions for Transport Management: Applications in the Coal Transportation Sector

This paper presents a model for coal transportation between collieries and power plants for reduction of transportation costs and optimal utilization of transport resources. This serves the twin benefits of cost savings both for collieries and power plants. Fourteen coal production sites (collieries) and six consumption sites (destinations) are considered for the study. Using Operations Research (OR) techniques, several feasible solutions are obtained by changing the priority level of goals, demands and budget.