Transition of Multimodal Transport Network Under Different Carbon Price Scenarios

Abstract

Carbon pricing affects the transportation strategies of freight companies and consequently changes the structure of regional transport networks. By incorporating carbon price into the network edge weights, this study constructs a multimodal transport network coupled heterogeneously through road, rail, and water transportation modes based on the path utility. PSO-BP method is adopted to optimize the parameter of the multimodal transport path utility function. Complex network technology is used to analyze the node and network attributes, and the transition paths of the multimodal transport network with different carbon price scenarios are explored. The results show that increasing carbon prices promote the transformation of transport modes from roadways to waterways and railways and that the importance of ports and railway stations increases. The structure of the multimodal transport network becomes more sparse, and the total carbon emissions decrease. Appropriate carbon prices can promote the balance of freight transportation structure.

Keywords: multimodal transport, complex network, Path utility function, Carbon price scenarios, Yangtze River Delta region