An optimal study on logistics network of cross-border railway in inland areas considering time cost and benefit of scale of railway transportation

In recent years, the rapid development of China Railway Express (CR Express) has provided new options for cross-border logistics in inland China. At the same time, it also accompanied the problem of immature and unsystematic networks. Considering the time cost and scale benefit of railway, this paper proposed an inland cross-border logistics network integration framework in China based on CR Express by a hybrid method including the set covering model, complex network theory, and the integer programming model. Then, 205 inland cities in 18 inland provinces as inland hinterlands and 67 candidate hub cities with CR Express as a case were studied to form the systematic network framework. Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Harbin and Urumqi are selected as first-level hub cities in the network. And, it is also found that compared with the sea-railway combined network, the cross-border railway transportation mode has more advantages on high-value of time and the benefit of scale when the cargo volume rising, and based on these findings, some management insights are put forwarded.