To study the design methods of regional hub-and-spoke freight network

17 technical and economic indicators that reflect regional urban freight capacity were determined from three perspectives including social economy

transportation capacity

and transportation professionals. The principal component analysis was used to quantify the comprehensive freight competitiveness of each city and determine the set of hub cities in the region. Based on calculation results

speed and cost indexes were further introduced to improve gravity model and membership model

which can effectively quantify the freight attraction between regional cities

define the influencing range of the hub city

determine the subordination of the branch city

construct the regional urban transport corridor system

and thereby help to determine the regional hub-and-spoke freight network layout. By taking 18 cities in Henan province as an example

a freight network was constructed. Results show that the obtained hub-and-spoke freight network in Henan province was in accordance with real situations

which has Zhengzhou as the center and presents the spatial characteristics of “one ring

six hubs

and seven corridors”. Therefore

the proposed model is reasonable and can effectively guide the design and operation of regional hub-and-spoke freight network.