This study aims to analyze the trip patterns of railway commuters in the Chukyo metropolitan area, and to determine the locations of flow-intercepting facilities over the railway network based on the flows. We created railway network data based on the railway lines covered in the Census data for commuter traffic in Chukyo metropolitan area in 2010. We solve the problem of determining a set of railway stations to maximize the volume of flows that have at least one facility along the travel path.

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... The number of target flows is about 11,500 and the total flow volume 725,000. We found that the optimal three-facility solution is the combination of Nagoya, Kanayama, and Ozone stations, and the solution covers nearly 60% of the total flow volume in the Chukyo area. The results are useful in planning the location of commercial stores, childcare and medical services, and various public facilities.