Optimization of the Enterprise Railcar Fleet Structure for the Transportation of Iron Ore Raw Materials

Abstract

ENG: The paper is devoted to the transportation issues of iron ore raw materials by railway transport. The purpose of the research is determining the number of private cars a mining enterprise should have to transport its products. The research is performed using the methods of the theory of railways operation, economic and mathematical modeling, mathematical statistics and direct methods of minimization. During the research the task for determining the number of private cars of the enterprise is reduced to the stochastic problem of minimizing the modified reduced costs of the enterprise, which are represented by a piecewise nonlinear function of one variable. The originality of the work is related to the fact that it has improved the method for calculating the car fleet of enterprises by taking into account differences in the technology of loading private cars and the involved cars of operator companies. The practical value of the work lies in the fact that the proposed method allows one to reduce the logistics costs of mining enterprises due to a more accurate assessment of the costs associated with the development and operation of the car fleet, as well as the accompanying railway infrastructure of sidings.