Synchronization and control of a multimodal transportation system

Intermodality in transportation systems is presently a research topic of great interest. In this paper, an approach for the synchronization and the control of an intermodal transportation system is proposed. For the system considered, a discrete event model is presented, integrating public and private transportation means. Such a model is intended to be the basis of an on-purpose designed traffic simulator, which has two main functions: validating an integrated timetabling for the different transportation means considered; managing an information system which is able to give, in real time, any updated information about the state of the whole transportation network. Finally, some control strategies are proposed to guarantee the regularity of the transportation services, i.e., the fulfilment of the timetable