Multicommodity Network Flow; Network Design; Transportation Network.

Abstract

The methodology used for the prediction of trips through the allocation of these according to the origin-destination (OD) survey, constitutes a traditional methodology to cover the demand of existing transport between the zones of analysis. When the transportation system fulfills the characteristics of a network (topology, routed arcs, nodes with commodity supply and demand, etc.) in addition, fleet restrictions are modeled as constraints on this network (capacity, transfer, flow balance, etc.); therefore the transportation system can be worked like a Multicommodity Network Flow Problem (or MCNF). If these data are contained in georeferenced databases, it offers the possibility of spatial analysis through specialized software, allowing the manipulation of such so it can be formulated as a minimum cost multicommodity network flow. The results offer better policies for the analyzed network than the results of the traditional methodology. Finally, the variations applied in the sensitivity analysis, purpose options such as: design for the future expansion, recommendations to the Master Plan of Electric Transport Systems, as well as of operating options to the present topology of the network.