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The present study defines criteria for evaluation of intermodal passenger and freight transportation - integrated railway and road transport (motorail trains and Ro-La trains). This type of transportation improves the efficiency of distribution in the supply chain. Two variants of criteria are studied in the paper - main and extended. The main criteria are divided into four groups: environmental, economic, technological and social. Eleven factors have been examined in the extended criteria: environmental, operating costs, transportation fares, infrastructure charges, duration of transportation, transportation from door to door, duration of transshipment operations, comfort, safety, reliability and stability. The method of multi-criteria analysis Decision Making Trial and the Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method have been applied to analyze the importance and the relations among the criteria. The summarized results of both variants are similar. They show that the economic criteria have the greatest impact. Operating costs are the key factor among the extended variant of criteria. Other criteria of great importance are also duration of transportation and transport from door to door. The defined criteria can be applied for the evaluation, comparison and selection the transportation with different modes of transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a methodology for selection the route of a truck moving between two points by taking into account multiple factors relevant to transport. The evaluation criteria have been selected so that they take account into the infrastructure road conditions, geographic characteristics of the road, roadside conditions and the weather conditions, on the one hand, and fuel consumption, on the other hand. The study examines four main sets of criteria with fifteenth sub-criteria. As sub-criteria related to the main criteria we have selected the condition of the road surface, the longitudinal and transverse unevenness of the road, inclines on the road, number of turns, restaurants and petrol stations, and others. The methods of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Cost/Benefits have been applied. The AHP method has been used to determine the weights of the criteria and sub-criteria, and the priorities of alternative routes. The Cost/Benefits method has been applied for the selection of the best route of a truck among the alternatives under study. The methodology has been tried out on two variants taking into account the meteorological conditions. The results show that the criterions of the infrastructure road conditions are of great importance. Sub-criteria of great importance are the condition of the road surface, longitudinal and transverse lumpiness of the road, sections of the road under repair, category of road, availability of places to take a rest and parking lots. The decision approach proposed in this paper was tested for a route selection among alternatives for the road network in Bulgaria. The proposed model can help transport managers enhance the effectiveness of the movement of vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]