Connecting the Belt and Road through sea-rail collaboration

As part of China’s "the Belt and Road"strategy, China Railway Express provides alternative shipping routes and transportation modes from Asia to Europe and creates new opportunities for intermodal transportation in the shipping industry. A time–distancebased cost(time cost) function was proposed to compare China Railway Express with traditional transportation modes. Time cost was related to different types of cargoes,which exhibit distinct sensitivity to time. Using the proposed cost function as basis, we identified the cost indifference area where total costs are equal. Further analysis was performed for selecting the transportation mode and supply area for a specific cargo. This study provides various parties, such as business owners, the government, and the shipping industry, with many valuable insights.