Transition of multimodal transport network under different carbon price scenarios

Carbon pricing affects the transportation strategies of freight companies and consequently changes the structure of regional transport networks. By incorporating a carbon price into a weighted complex network, this study constructs a multimodal transport network coupled heterogeneously through road, rail, and waterway transportation modes based on the path utility. A particle swarm optimization–back propagation method is adopted to optimize the parameters 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 under different carbon price scenarios are explored. The results show that increases in carbon prices promote the transition 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 a balanced freight transportation structure, and reduce carbon emissions.