Optimal planning of coal transport in China

Coal transport has been identified as a serious problem in the future economic development of China. The comparative advantages of coal production in the North and government encouragement have caused a large amount of coal flows moved from the North to the Northeast, East, and South Central regions of China. The increased requirements of coal shipments and the lack of sufficient improvements to the shipping capacities of various transport modes have brought about enormous coal transport pressure on saturated railway networks, which directly affect coal production and consumption on a national scale. This study aims to find efficient ways of relieving present coal transport pressure and balancing coal production and consumption in China. Previous studies are reviewed, major modes for coal transport are discussed, and three strategies for relieving present coal transport pressure are evaluated.

Optimal planning is recommended as the most comprehensive approach to relieving present coal transport pressure. A Linear Programming model is used to demonstrate its potential utility in optimal planning. Since Chinese coal transport is a very complicated problem which involves many factors, nonlinear models may be needed for more realistic optimal planning of coal transport in China.