This paper aims to demonstrate the effect of recognizing heterogeneity in values of time on the design of a hub network for freight transportation. By taking the VOT distribution into account, we emphasize shippers' broader logistical, social and economic situation in the network design, and are not limited to commodity types. The paper employs the single allocation p-hub median problem which minimizes the total generalized transportation cost (time, distance, etc.) with given demands. VOT is assumed to be discretely distributed, and estimated by mean-dispersion model and Latent Class model, based on a Stated Preference survey conducted in China, investigating railway shippers' choice behavior of railway services. A local railway network with 14 nodes and 20 linkages is applied to discuss the effect of VOT distribution on multiple (i.e., 3) hub location strategy. Simulated Annealing (SA) is designed to solve the single allocation p-hub median problems. The numerical results shows that the VOT and its distribution should be taken into account for better simulating railway shippers' heterogeneous valuations of service time versus time.@en

Value of time and value of reliability are two important user attributes that reflect shippers’ behavioral preferences, and as such influence the design of transport service networks. As shippers preferences will vary widely, it is important to consider these variations between users in the design of service networks. Up to now, network design research has ignored the combined use of time and reliability valuations for heterogeneous user populations. The objective of this paper is to address these attributes in a model for freight service network design targeting service performance improvement. We present a new frequency based service network design model with transshipments, capacity constraints and heterogeneous users. We apply the model to demonstrate that including heterogeneity explicitly in network design pays off in terms of an improved user performance of the network. A case study is conducted for a railway network in China. Values of time and reliability are estimated from a recent Stated Preference survey and used to determine distinct user classes. The proposed optimization problem is solved using an improved Simulated Annealing based heuristic method, for the case of the aggregate user group and the case of two distinct classes. Results show that by taking variations in shippers’ VOT and VOR into account, users’ total generalized cost is reduced while service levels improve. We conclude that incorporating heterogeneous VOT and VOR into the service network design problem is of interest for decisions on network investments.@en