Expert Systems Development for Contingency Transportation Planning

Ensuring that the daily movement of millions of passengers and tons of goods in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro-with a population of more than 10 million peoplecan be satisfactorily and safely accomplished is a complex task. It involves several transportation modes; federal, state, and local agencies; public and private operators; and skilled personnel. Very often parts of the system become ineffective. For many reasons, such as system component failures, strikes, accidents, disasters, or environmental catastrophes, special operational plans must be performed in order to recover service. In some of those agencies, plans are available for such conditions, but in most cases they are restricted to individual circumstances, mainly caused by equipment failures. Coordination among agencies and operators is almost nonexistent, but they work together when a critical situation arises. Another problem that has been addressed and that requires similar treatment is evacuation in the event of a nuclear disaster at the nuclear power plant in the state of Rio de Janeiro. For these numerous ill-structured problems, in which human behavior, social and political considerations, and multiobjective decision making are involved, the potential of expert systems technology was considered and is included in the contingency transportation planning of the Rio de Janeiro State Department of Transportation.