Research on Key Nodes Identification in Intermodal Transportation Network Considering Node Strength

Abstract

Identifying key nodes in the coal rail-water intermodal transportation network is crucial for national energy supply, but traditional identification methods often overlook the critical factor of node strength. This paper introduced, for the first time, a Grey Relation Analysis based Importance Evaluation method considering Node Strength (GRAIE-NS), which combined local indicators of node degree with global indicators of node efficiency to achieve precise quantification of node importance. To verify the effectiveness of the GRAIE-NS method, an analysis was conducted using the actual operational network of coal rail-water intermodal transportation in China, comparing this method with classic key node identification approaches. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the impact of variations in the weights of initial importance and node strength on network invulnerability. The results indicate that the proposed method demonstrates high accuracy, particularly when the weight of initial importance is significant, as the failure of identified key nodes can have a substantial impact on the network.