The use of simulation to calculate the labor requirements in an intermodal rail terminal

An intermodal rail terminal is a facility where the transfer of cargo occurs between truck and rail. The operations within these terminals involve many resources and operating rules. The ability of a terminal to respond to activity peaks that occur as a result of train arrivals and departures is critical. In order to explore how operations can be improved given the dynamics of resource and demand interactions, a simulation model was developed to assist in understanding and exploring areas where throughput can be improved. The model was constructed such that capacity issues could be explored incrementally. The first focus was for understanding if efficient deployment of labor resources could provide desired throughput.