Overview of Infrastructure Charging, part 4, IMPROVERAIL Project Deliverable 9, “Improved Data Background to Support Current and Future Infrastructure Charging Systems”

Improverail aims are to further support the establishment of railway infrastructure management in accordance with Directive 91/440, as well as the new railway infrastructure directives, by developing the necessary tools for modelling the management of railway infrastructure; by evaluating improved methods for capacity and resources management, which allow the improvement of the Life Cycle Costs (LCC) calculating methods, including elements related to vehicle - infrastructure interaction and external costs; and by improving data background in support of charging for use of railway infrastructure. To achieve these objectives, Improverail is organised along 8 workpackages, with specific objectives, responding to the requirements of the task 2.2.1/10 of the 2nd call made in the 5th RTD Framework Programme in December 1999.This part is the task 7.1 (Review of infrastructure charging systems) to the workpackage 7 (Analysis of the relation between infrastructure cost variation and diversity of infrastructure charging systems).Before explaining the economic characteristics of railway and his basic pricing principles, authors must specify the objectives of railways infrastructure charging.principle of pricing ; rail infrastructure charging ; public service obligation ; rail charging practice ; Europe ; Improverail

Transport integration - an impossible dream?

Transport Integration and an Integrated Transport Policy have been widely espoused for many years, yet remain an ambiguous and ill-defined concept. After featuring strongly in the 1998 Transport Policy White Paper, recently transport integration has received less emphasis. However it appears it is set for a return under the new Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis.This paper explores the meaning of Integrated Transport. It concludes that there is no point in attempting to identify a single definition, but that there are overlapping layers of meaning, with higher levels incorporating lower, or narrower, understandings of the term Integrated Transport. This exploration of meanings of integration is a development of initial work (Potter and Skinner 2000) and is important as the alternative meanings lead to different transport policy responses. These meanings include: - Locational Integration: being able to easily change between transport modes (using Interchanges) - this is about services connecting in space - Timetabling Integration: Services at an interchange connect in time. - Ticketing Integration: Not needing to purchase a new ticket for each leg of a journey - Information Integration: Not needing to enquire at different places for each stage of a trip - or that different independent sources are easily connected - Service Design Integration: That the legal, administrative and governance structures permit/encouraging integration - Travel Generation Integration: Integrating the planning of transport with the generators of travel (particularly integration with land use planning) Furthermore, there are inherent tensions which make transport integration difficult to achieve. Only limited progress has been achieved in the UK since the 1998 White Paper, and even in Germany, with their strong transport policy structures, integration has failed (Schöller-Schwedes, 2009). This exploration of meanings will also explore the tensions involved as there is a danger of the UK chasing again a flawed concept

Train-scheduling optimization model for railway networks with multiplatform stations

This paper focuses on optimizing the schedule of trains on railway networks composed of busy complex stations. A mathematical formulation of this problem is provided as a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). However, the creation of an optimal new timetable is an NP-hard problem; therefore, the MILP can be solved for easy cases, computation time being impractical for more complex examples. In these cases, a heuristic approach is provided that makes use of genetic algorithms to find a good solution jointly with heuristic techniques to generate an initial population. The algorithm was applied to a number of problem instances producing feasible, though not optimal, solutions in several seconds on a laptop, and compared to other proposals. Some improvements are suggested to obtain better results and further improve computation time. Rail transport is recognized as a sustainable and energy-efficient means of transport. Moreover, each freight train can take a large number of trucks off the roads, making them safer. Studies in this field can help to make railways more attractive to travelers by reducing operative cost, and increasing the number of services and their punctuality. To improve the transit system and service, it is necessary to build optimal train scheduling. There is an interest from the industry in automating the scheduling process. Fast computerized train scheduling, moreover, can be used to explore the effects of alternative draft timetables, operating policies, station layouts, and random delays or failures.Postprint (published version

A Simple Model of Rail Infrastructure Capacity and Costs.

The recent White Paper on "New Opportunities for the Railways" (Cm 2012, 1992) proposes that British Rail's responsibilities for operation and infrastructure will be separated. A new track authority, Railtrack, will be established and will operate without subsidy, except for capital grants in cases where a satisfactory cost-benefit return is achieved. It is acknowledged that these new arrangements will lead to some difficulties in allocating and charging for infrastructure, especially where rail infrastructure is congested, and consultants have been hired by Government to examine this issue. The principles that Government has specified should underly the access and charging regime are that it should: (a)Promote efficient operation (b)Promote competition and innovation (c)Encourage efficient use of infrastructure and other resources (d)Not discriminate unfairly between competing operators and services (e)Provide the means for financing Railtrack's infrastructure. The relevant theory is embodied in the literature concerning peak load pricing and optimal investment for public enterprises as expounded in standard text books (Turvey, 1971, Rees, 1984, Brown and Sibley, 1986.) and put into practice in most areas of the transport sector (eg Hansson and Nilsson, 1989, for rail, Small and Winston, 1988, for road, Bishop and Thompson, 1992, for air). The aim of this paper is not to make a contribution to this theory but to use it in conjunction with simple models of rail's infrastructure requirements and costs to highlight the key problems in infrastructure allocation and charging. The structure of this paper is as follows. In section two we consider a hypothetical rail line and the likely costs of different service levels. In section three, we relax the assumption that all trains are operated at the same speed and re-examine the likely costs of different service levels. In section 4, we go on to examine the pricing implications of our findings. In a final section, the implications of this analysis for policy are assessed

Rail Privatisation: The Economic Theory

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevance of economic theory to the rail privatisation proposals contained in the Railways Act 1993. After a review of the latest rail privatisation literature four major themes emerged: (1) Contestability and Barriers to Entry. (2) Franchising. (3) Vertical Integration. (4) Horizontal Integration. Following a short review of the rail privatisation proposals the paper presents each theme in the context of the proposals. In conclusion, we highlight a number of future issues which will require monitoring and research in the future. In particular, we identify a number of hypotheses, put forward by both those in favour and against the Government's proposals, that should be tested

Rail Infrastructure Manager Problem: Analyzing Capacity Pricing and Allocation in Shared Railway System

This paper proposes a train timetabling model for shared railway systems. The model is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming problem and solved both using commercial software and a novel algorithm based on approximate dynamic programming. The results of the train timetabling model can be used to simulate and evaluate the behavior of the infrastructure manager in shared railway systems under different capacity pricing and allocation mechanisms. This would allow regulators and decision makers to identify the implications of these mechanisms for different stakeholders considering the specific characteristics of the system

Train planning in a fragmented railway: a British perspective

Train Planning (also known as railway scheduling) is an area of substantial importance to the success of any railway. Through train planning, railway managers aim to meet the needs of customers whilst using as low a level of resources (infrastructure, rolling stock and staff) as possible. Efficient and effective train planning is essential to get the best possible performance out of a railway network. The author of this thesis aims, firstly, to analyse the processes which are used to develop train plans and the extent to which they meet the objectives that they might be expected to meet and, secondly, to investigate selected new and innovative software approaches that might make a material difference to the effectiveness and/or efficiency of train planning processes. These aims are delivered using a range of primarily qualitative research methods, including literature reviews, interviews, participant observation and case studies, to understand these processes and software. Conclusions regarding train planning processes include how the complexity of these processes hinders their effectiveness, the negative impact of the privatisation of British Rail on these processes and the conflicting nature of objectives for train planning in the privatised railway. Train planning software is found not to adequately support train planners in meeting the objectives they are set. The potential for timetable generation using heuristics and for timetable performance simulation to improve the effectiveness of train planning are discussed and recommendations made for further research and development to address the limitations of the software currently available

Train Timetable Design for Shared Railway Systems using a Linear Programming Approach to Approximate Dynamic Programming

In the last 15 years, the use of rail infrastructure by different train operating companies (shared railway system) has been proposed as a way to improve infrastructure utilization and to increase efficiency in the railway industry. Shared use requires coordination between the infrastructure manager and multiple train operators in a competitive framework, so that regulators must design appropriate capacity pricing and allocation mechanisms. However, the resulting capacity utilization from a given mechanism in the railway industry cannot be known in the absence of operations. Therefore assessment of capacity requires the determination of the train timetable, which eliminates any potential conflicts in bids from the operators. Although there is a broad literature that proposes train timetabling methods for railway systems with single operators, there are few models for shared competitive railway systems. This paper proposes a train timetabling model for shared railway systems that explicitly considers network effects and the existence of multiple operators requesting to operate several types of trains traveling along different routes in the network. The model is formulated and solved both as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem (using a commercial solver) and as a dynamic programming (DP) problem. We solve the DP formulation with a novel algorithm based on a linear programming (LP) approach to approximate dynamic programming (ADP) that can solve much larger problems than are computationally intractable with commercial MILP solvers. The model simulates the optimal decisions by an infrastructure manager for a shared railway system with respect to a given objective function and safety constraints. This model can be used to evaluate alternative capacity pricing and allocation mechanism. We demonstrate the method for one possible capacity pricing and allocation mechanism, and show how the competing demands and the decisions of the infrastructure manager under this mechanism impact the operations on a shared railway system for all stakeholders

Rail Privatisation: The Practice – An Analysis of Seven Case Studies

After a brief description of the proposals for rail privatisation in Great Britain, this paper contrasts these with the proposals and experience in other countries around the world. The proposals and experience in other countries contain some elements of the British proposals, however, the 'open access' element that features strongly in the British proposals has never been experienced on any significant scale elsewhere. In conclusion, experience elsewhere may shed light on the likely outcome of some aspects of the British proposals, but other aspects such as 'open access' and vertical separation are still unknowns