Growing demand for railway-based transport stresses railway infrastructure on safety, punctuality, and robustness. The Port of Rotterdam and ProRail desire a process of executing simulation model supported capacity studies wherein inputs, methods and outputs are coordinated upfront. However, interorganisational capacity studies are currently conducted ad hoc in lengthy processes, in which there is disagreement about inputs, methods, and outputs of the process. They can be considered misaligned as the internal capacity management processes do not fully fit each organisation’s objectives, while also not being sufficiently adaptive towards the dynamic railway capacity context. Alignment is the result of coordination activities between collaborating organisations. An aligned rail freight capacity management process is necessary for the successful matching of demand and supply for rail freight transport services, and can be supported by simulations of the railway capacity. Thus, the question arises: How to improve the alignment of collaborating organisations on quantitative metrics for railway freight capacity in the Port of Rotterdam with the use of meso-level simulation models?

This research presents a process design for an interorganisational capacity planning process that has the potential to improve alignment between the collaborating organisations. The principle-based design method presents a novel approach to addressing alignment problems in the domain of decision-model supported capacity planning collaboration between networked organisations. The process design is formulated through a design science method, wherein specific coordination challenges are matched to literature-derived principles regarding technical and interorganisational coordination of capacity planning processes. The design is evaluated against stakeholder defined requirements and through discussion of the proof of concept: an executed capacity study using the formulated design.