Carrier Systems
Transportation networks built and run by carriers, from freight railroads to airlines and transit agencies, are the subject of this MIT course from Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Engineering Systems Division. Lectures work through quantitative models and optimization tools used to design routes, allocate assets, schedule crews, and plan capacity for moving both freight and passengers. The material covers network design, fleet management, and operational control problems that carriers face day to day, drawing on operations research methods applied to real transportation systems. Course materials include lecture notes, problem sets, and readings, published through MIT OpenCourseWare under a Creative Commons license, free to access with no certificate offered. The course suits students with some background in optimization or transportation engineering who want to see how carriers actually plan and manage the systems that move goods and people.