Optimization Methods in Modern Transportation Systems

One of the greatest challenges in the public transportation network is the optimization of the passengers waiting time, where it is necessary to find a compromise between the satisfaction of the passengers and the requirements of the transport companies. This paper presents a detailed review of the available literature dealing with the problem of passenger transport in order to optimize the passenger waiting time at the station and to meet the requirements of companies (maximize profits or minimize cost). After a detailed discussion, the paper clarifies the most important objectives in solving a timetabling problem: the requirements and satisfaction of passengers, passenger waiting time and capacity of vehicles. At the end, the appropriate algorithms for solving the set of optimization models are presented

Operations research in passenger railway transportation

In this paper, we give an overview of state-of-the-art OperationsResearch models and techniques used in passenger railwaytransportation. For each planning phase (strategic, tactical andoperational), we describe the planning problems arising there anddiscuss some models and algorithms to solve them. We do not onlyconsider classical, well-known topics such as timetabling, rollingstock scheduling and crew scheduling, but we also discuss somerecently developed topics as shunting and reliability oftimetables.Finally, we focus on several practical aspects for each of theseproblems at the largest Dutch railway operator, NS Reizigers.passenger railway transportation;operation research;planning problems

Train schedule coordination at an interchange station through agent negotiation

In open railway markets, coordinating train schedules at an interchange station requires negotiation between two independent train operating companies to resolve their operational conflicts. This paper models the stakeholders as software agents and proposes an agent negotiation model to study their interaction. Three negotiation strategies have been devised to represent the possible objectives of the stakeholders, and they determine the behavior in proposing offers to the proponent. Empirical simulation results confirm that the use of the proposed negotiation strategies lead to outcomes that are consistent with the objectives of the stakeholders

An Overview and Categorization of Approaches for Train Timetable Generation

A train timetable is a crucial component of railway transportation systems as it directly impacts the system’s performance and the customer satisfaction. Various approaches can be found in the literature that deal with timetable generation. However, the approaches proposed in the literature differ significantly in terms of the use case for which they are in tended. Differences in objective function, timetable periodicity, and solution methods have led to a confusing number of works on this topic. Therefore, this paper presents a com pact literature review of approaches to train timetable generation. The reviewed papers are briefly summarized and categorized by objective function and periodicity. Special emphasis is given to approaches that have been applied to real-world railway data

A Matching Approach for Periodic Timetabling

The periodic event scheduling problem (PESP) is a well studied problem known as intrinsically hard, but with important applications mainly for finding good timetables in public transportation. In this paper we consider PESP in public transportation, but in a reduced version (r-PESP) in which the driving and waiting times of the vehicles are fixed to their lower bounds. This results in a still NP-hard problem which has less variables, since only one variable determines the schedule for a whole line. We propose a formulation for r-PESP which is based on scheduling the lines. This enables us on the one hand to identify a finite candidate set and an exact solution approach. On the other hand, we use this formulation to derive a matching-based heuristic for solving PESP. Our experiments on close to real-world instances from LinTim show that our heuristic is able to compute competitive timetables in a very short runtime

Dispatching and Rescheduling Tasks and Their Interactions with Travel Demand and the Energy Domain: Models and Algorithms

Abstract The paper aims to provide an overview of the key factors to consider when performing reliable modelling of rail services. Given our underlying belief that to build a robust simulation environment a rail service cannot be considered an isolated system, also the connected systems, which influence and, in turn, are influenced by such services, must be properly modelled. For this purpose, an extensive overview of the rail simulation and optimisation models proposed in the literature is first provided. Rail simulation models are classified according to the level of detail implemented (microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic), the variables involved (deterministic and stochastic) and the processing techniques adopted (synchronous and asynchronous). By contrast, within rail optimisation models, both planning (timetabling) and management (rescheduling) phases are discussed. The main issues concerning the interaction of rail services with travel demand flows and the energy domain are also described. Finally, in an attempt to provide a comprehensive framework an overview of the main metaheuristic resolution techniques used in the planning and management phases is shown

Railway timetabling from an operations research

In this paper we describe Operations Research (OR) models andtechniques that can be used for determining (cyclic) railwaytimetables. We discuss the two aspects of railway timetabling: ($i$)the determination of arrival and departure times of the trains atthe stations and other relevant locations such as junctions andbridges, and ($ii$) the assignment of each train to an appropriateplatform and corresponding inbound and outbound routes in everystation. Moreover, we discuss robustness aspects of bothsubproblems.