Layout of Freight Consolidation Points for the China–Laos Railway: A POI Data-Driven Analysis of Hub Functions in Yunnan Province, China

Abstract The China–Laos Railway connects Kunming, China, and Vientiane, Laos. With the increase of freight trains, China’s import volume far exceeds its export volume. The efficiency of domestic freight consolidation is restricted by unclear freight source information, low concentration, and irrational consolidation point layout. Therefore, based on the operation practice of China–Laos Railway export freight, combined with points of interest (POI) data and geographic information system (GIS) technology, this paper uses spatial analysis, random forest, and empirical methods to construct a three-level freight consolidation point layout of core hub–secondary node–general node.