A Comparative Study of Oil Transportation Modal Choice between Intermodal Rail and Road: A Case Study of Freight Route between Ban Phai Tank Farm Khon Kaen Province to Railway Yard at Thanaleng the Laos People's Democratic Republic.

Abstract

This research aims at studying influencing factors on the modal choice decision between road and intermodal rail modes for oil transportation between Ban Phai Tank Farm Khon Kaen Province to Railway Yard at Thanaleng the Laos People's Democratic Republic, that best suits stakeholders’ needs. According to the interviews with stakeholders, it is found that among five influencing factors including time, cost, flexibility, safety, and reliability, time and cost outweigh the other factors. In addition, the input information on each influencing factors are collected to determine the weighted score of each mode which are used as the input for multi-criteria decision analysis technique called analytic hierarchy process. The results show that the intermodal rail is more preferred to the road with the total sum weighted score of 0.63 and 0.37, respectively.