Multimodal transportation network centrality analysis for Belt and Road Initiative

Yaoming Zhou, Tanmoy Kundu, Mark Goh and Jiuh-Biing Sheu

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 2021, vol. 149, issue C

Abstract: As the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) takes root, the Air Transportation Network (ATN) is gaining prominence, as evidenced by the Air Silk Road Initiative proposed in 2017. However, the ATN of the BRI countries and its integration with maritime and rail transport have not been studied. This paper analyzes the network structure of the ATN of the BRI countries. A multi-layer weighted betweenness metric is used to rank the centrality of the hubs in the network based on the connectivity, distance, and traffic between the airports. Using the centrality ranking of the airports to reflect the distribution of traffic demand in the BRI countries, a gravity model is then applied to quantify the centrality of the maritime and rail hubs. Mapping these hubs to their home cities, this paper assesses the current state of the multimodal transport hubs and recommends new hubs to increase the international trading reach of the BRI.

Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative; Multimodal transportation; Network centrality; Air transport network; Gravity model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2021.102292

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