56 research outputs found

    Flexible Connections in PESP Models for Cyclic Passenger Railway Timetabling

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    In this paper we describe how rolling stock and passenger connections in a cyclic railway timetable can be modeled in a flexible way within the model for the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP). The PESP model was introduced by Serani and Ukovich (1989). Usually, PESP-models assume that the constraints for rolling stock or passenger connections specify in detail which trains should connect with each other. However, the flexibility described in this paper allows the model to choose which trains should connect with each other in a rolling stock or passenger connection. We express the required number of train compositions in terms of the integer cycle variables of the constraint graph. We also describe an abstract framework, demonstrating that, under certain conditions, the extra flexibility can be modeled purely in terms of PESP constraints. The concept of flexible rolling stock and passenger connections is illustrated by an example based on three intercity lines of Netherlands Railways

    Operations research in passenger railway transportation

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    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

    Cyclic Timetable Scheduling Problem on High-speed Railway Line

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    Due to several obvious advantages both in transport marketing and train operation planning, the cyclic timetable has already applied in many high-speed railway (HSR) countries. In order to adopt the cyclic timetable in China's HSR system, a Mixed Integer Programmer (MIP) model is proposed in this paper involving many general constraints, such as running time, dwell time, headway, and connection constraints. In addition, the real-world overtaking rule that concerning a train with higher priority will not be overtaken by a slower one is incorporated into the cyclic timetable optimization model. An approach based on fixed departure is proposed to get a cyclic timetable with minimum total journey time within a reasonable time. From numerical investigations using data from Guangzhou-Zhuhai HSR line in China, the proposed model and associated approach are tested and shown to be effective

    Railway timetabling from an operations research

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    In this paper we describe Operations Research (OR) models and techniques that can be used for determining (cyclic) railway timetables. We discuss the two aspects of railway timetabling: (ii) the determination of arrival and departure times of the trains at the stations and other relevant locations such as junctions and bridges, and (iiii) the assignment of each train to an appropriate platform and corresponding inbound and outbound routes in every station. Moreover, we discuss robustness aspects of both subproblems

    An Overview and Categorization of Approaches for Train Timetable Generation

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    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

    Generation of the transport service offer with application to timetable planning considering constraints due to maintenance work

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    Line planning is an important step in strategic timetable planning in public transport. In this step the transport offer for the customer is generated by the public transport operator, whereby the resulting costs for the operator should be as deep as possible. Mathematical models for line planning allow to create optimized line plans quickly. Planners can use these models to rate and select different alternatives. This is particularly valuable under the aspect of increasing maintenance and construction tasks of the railway infrastructure. We show, that in this case, it is possible to create functional requirements for automated timetable creation from the result of line planning step. The practical use of the involved models is illustrated by a real application example

    The Ideal Train Timetabling Problem

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    The aim of this paper is to analyze and to improve the current planning process of the passenger railway service. At first, the state-of-the-art in research is presented. However, given the recent changes in legislature allowing competitors in the railway industry, the current way of planning is not sufficient anymore. The original planning is based on the accessibility/mobility concept provided by one carrier, whereas the competitive market consists of several carriers that are driven by the profit. Moreover, the current practice does not define the ideal timetables and thus it is assumed that they evolve incrementally, based on a historical data (train occupation, ticket sales, etc.). And thus, we introduce a definition of an ideal timetable that is expressed using the passenger cost. In order to create the timetables itself, we propose to insert the Ideal Train Timetabling Problem (ITTP) that is solved for each Train Operating Company (TOC) separately, into the planning process. The ITTP approach incorporates the passenger demand in the planning and its aim is to minimize the passenger cost(s). The outcome of the ITTP is the ideal timetables (including connections between the trains and weighted by the demand), which then serve as an input for the traditional Train Timetabling Problem (TTP). The TTP takes into account wishes of each TOC (the ideal timetables) and creates global feasible timetable for the given railway network, while minimizing the changes of the TOCs wishes. The ITTP is in line with the new market structure and it can produce both: non-cyclic and cyclic timetables. The model is tested on the data provided by the Israeli Railways (IR). The instance consists of a full demand OD Matrix of an average working day in Israel during 2008. The results are compared to the current timetable of IR. Due to the large complexity of the model, it is solved using the Column Generation methodology

    Cyclic Railway Timetable Optimization

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    Cyclic Railway Timetable Optimization describes mathematical models and solution methods for constructing high quality cyclic railway timetables. In a cyclic timetable, a train for a certain destination leaves a certain station at the same time every cycle time, say every half an hour, every hour, or every two hours. Cyclic timetables are widely used in European railways. They offer a clear and transparant product to the railway customers, who only need to memorize the minutes of the hour at which their regular trains depart. Because of the important role of timetable planning for railway operators and railway infrastructure managers, models and methods for optimizing cyclic railway timetables provide a valuable tool for these organizations. The thesis presents a mathematical model for optimizing cyclic railway timetables, and studies the theoretical aspects behind the model. The investigated aspects include cyclic sequencing, periodic tensions, cycles in graphs, cycle bases of graphs, algorithms for constructing cycle bases, and cutting planes for the model. The developed theoretical ideas are tested on some real-life cyclDoor de nog altijd toenemende mobiliteit, de privatisering van de Nederlandse Spoor- wegen in 1995, en de vertragingen en punctualiteitsproblemen op het spoor, zijn de spoorwegen en hun dienstregelingen de laatste jaren een veelbesproken onderwerp ge- weest in Nederland. De verwachting is dat het spoor mede een antwoord kan bieden op voorspelde verdere groei van de mobiliteit. Tegen deze achtergrond bestudeert dit proefschrift wiskundige modellen en oplossingsmethoden voor het ontwikkelen van cyclische dienstregelingen van hoge kwaliteit. De Nederlandse dienstregeling, waar elk uur in principe identiek is, is een voorbeeld van zo'n cyclische dienstregeling. Hoofdstuk 1 van het proefschrift betoogt dat het snel kunnen ontwerpen van dienstregelingen van hoge kwaliteit van groot belang is zowel voor infrastructuurbe- heerders, zoals Railned, als voor vervoerders, zoals NS Reizigers. Een van de taken van Railned is het adviseren van de Nederlandse overheid over investeringen in nieu- we spoorweg infrastructuur. Dergelijke grote infrastructuur investeringen moeten een extra vervoerscapaciteit over een lange tijdshorizon bieden. Railned evalueert daartoe een scala aan infrastructuur-scenario's, door voor elk scenario verschillende dienstregelingen te ontwerpen. Deze dienstregelingen worden vergeleken aan de hand van diverse criteria, zoals vervoersaanbod en robuustheid. Met de invoering van con- currentie op het Nederlandse spoor heeft Railned daarnaast de taak gekregen om uit de dienstregelingsvoorstellen van de diverse vervoerders een gezamenlijke dienstre- geling samen te stellen. Deze gezamenlijk dienstregeling moet het maatschappelijke nut maximaliseren, door bijvoorbeeld korte reistijden te bieden, of door het aantal verwachte vertragingen zoveel mogelijk te beperken. Wat betreft de vervoerder NS Reizigers speelt het snel kunnen ontwerpen van dienstregelingen van hoge kwaliteit een rol bij het uitvoeren van tactische en stra- tegische studies. Tactische studies onderzoeken de haalbaarheid van wijzigingen in de huidige dienstregeling, en strategische studies richten zich op het verkennen van nieuwe dienstregelingsconcepten voor de toekomst. Hoe sneller dergelijke dienstre- gelingsstudies uitgevoerd kunnen worden, des te sneller en beter kan een vervoerder inspelen op veranderingen in de vervoersmarkt. Daarnaast biedt het grote voorde- len als diverse dienstregelingscriteria, zoals kosten of de tevredenheid van passagiers, gekwantificeerd en tegen elkaar afgewogen kunnen worden. Wiskundige modellen en oplossingsmethoden om dienstregelingen te optimaliseren bieden daarom een waar- devolle ondersteuning bij de dienstregelingsplanning van infrastructuurbeheerders en vervoerders. Hoofdstuk 2 van het proefschrift gaat dieper in op de planning van dienstregelin- gen. Bij het ontwerpen van een dienstregeling moeten de diverse afhankelijkheden met andere planningen, zoals de lijnvoering en de personeelsplanning, in acht wor- den genomen, en vice versa. Verder beschrijft het hoofdstuk hoe de dienstregeling door Railned gebruikt wordt als een instrument om de capaciteit van toekomstige infrastructuur uitbreidingen te evalueren. Nadat de sociale en organisatorische achtergrond van het dienstregelingsontwerp uitvoerig behandeld zijn, beschrijft hoofdstuk 3 een geheeltallig programmeringsmo- del voor het optimaliseren van dienstregelingen, genaamd het Cyclic Railway Ti- metabling Problem (CRTP). Het CRTP modelleert een dienstregeling aan de hand van aankomsttijden en vertrektijden van treinen op de diverse knooppunten in het spoorwegnet. Door uitvoerige voorbeeld-restricties wordt duidelijk gemaakt hoe de diverse voorwaarden waaraan een dienstregeling moet voldoen, zoals aansluitingen en veiligheidseisen, kunnen worden gemodelleerd. Het hoofdstuk beschrijft verder li- neaire doelstellingsfuncties die gericht zijn op het minimaliseren van de reistijden, het maximaliseren van de robuustheid van de dienstregeling, en het minimaliseren van de mate waarin

    Railway Passenger Service Timetable Design

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    The aim of this paper is to analyze and to improve the current planning process of the passenger railway service. At first, the state-of-the-art in research is presented. Given the recent changes in legislature allowing competitors to enter the railway industry in Europe, also known as liberalization of railways, the current way of planning does not reflect the situation anymore. The original planning is based on the accessibility/mobility concept provided by one carrier, whereas the competitive market consists of several carriers that are driven by the profit. Moreover, the current practice does not define the ideal timetables (the initial most profitable timetables) and thus it is assumed that the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) use their historical data (train occupation, ticket sales, etc.) in order to construct the ideal timetables. For the first time in this field, we tackle the problem of ideal timetables in railway industry from the both points of view: TOCs’ and passengers’. We propose the Ideal Train Timetabling Problem (ITTP) to create a list of train timetables for each TOC separately. The ITTP approach incorporates the passenger demand in the planning and its aim is to maximize TOCs’ profits while keeping the passengers’ costs at a certain level. The outcome of the ITTP is the ideal timetables (including connections between the trains), which then serve as inputs for the traditional Train Timetabling Problem (TTP). We test our approach on the S-train network of Canton Vaud, Switzerland
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