Transportation serves as the backbone for any industrial development. This is
more significant for a country like India, where there are 28 different states, each
governed independently, with their own operations mechanisms. As such, some states are
more developed than others. Transportation holds its significance in primary and
secondary spheres—transportation for industrial use and transportation of human
population, required for industrial and market development.
A key to industrial development is the availability of electricity. Most of the
power generation in India is thermal, and thus dependent on coal extraction and
its transportation to power plants.
The purpose of this paper is to present a model for coal transportation
between collieries and power plants for reduction of transportation costs and optimal
utilization of transport resources. This serves the twin benefits of cost savings both for the
collieries and the power plants. Fourteen coal production
sites (collieries) and six consumption sites (destinations) are considered. Using Operations Research (OR)
techniques, several feasible solutions are obtained by changing the priority level of goals
and demands, from which, the Decision Maker (DM) has to take a better
compromise solution, if not the best. |
