Algorithm Engineering for Realistic Journey Planning in Transportation Networks

Diese Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit der Routenplanung in Transportnetzen. Es werden neue, effiziente algorithmische Ansätze zur Berechnung optimaler Verbindungen in öffentlichen Verkehrsnetzen, Straßennetzen und multimodalen Netzen, die verschiedene Transportmodi miteinander verknüpfen, eingeführt. Im Fokus der Arbeit steht dabei die Praktikabilität der Ansätze, was durch eine ausführliche experimentelle Evaluation belegt wird

Analys av den europeiska nattågstrafikens tillbakagång och framtidsutsikter - Historik, nedläggningsorsaker, framgångsfaktorer och lärdomar

This thesis concerns the last decade’s considerable decline in western European night train traffic. First, the context of the study is presented with a brief overview of climate challenges, liberalization of the railway market within the European Union and theoretical aspects of demand for night train traffic. A historical overview of night train traffic in general is made, whereafter several factors believed to be contributing to the decline are presented and evaluated. Some of the most important contributing factors are high operating costs, competition from high-speed trains and low-cost airlines, disadvantageous policies and regulations as well as old rolling stock. The decision of the Austrian railways to take over some of the German night train services is analyzed in particular. Thereafter the present role and niches of night trains are studied, and an outlook is made, examining the development of Very Long-Distance Night Trains using high-speed rolling stock. Possible success factors are evaluated and presented in a synthesis, of which the most important are integrated booking service, higher comfort, using modern multiple units and/or high-speed night trains and lower price. Some of the most important recommendations and lessons learned collected from interviewees and literature are to harmonize VAT regulations and climate fees between the different modes of transport, categorize night trains as a special traffic segment and enable the EU to create a night-wagon pool from which the operators could rent vehicles

Improved Search for Night Train Connections

The search for attractive night train connections is fundamentally different from ordinary search: the primary objective of a costumer of a night train is to have a reasonably long sleeping period without interruptions due to train changes. For most passenger it is also undesired to reach the final destination too early in the morning. These objectives are in sharp contrast to standard information systems which focus on minimizing the total travel time. In this paper we present and compare two new approaches to support queries for night train connections. These approaches have been integrated into the Multi-Objective Traffic Information System (MOTIS) which is currently developed by our group. Its purpose is to find all train connections which are attractive from a costumer point of view. With a computational study we demonstrate that our specialized algorithms for night train connections are able to satisfy costumer queries much better than standard methods. This can be achieved with reasonable computational costs: a specialized night train search requires only a few seconds of CPU time

16. Improved Search for Night Train Connections

The search for attractive night train connections is fundamentally different from ordinary search: the primary objective of a costumer of a night train is to have a reasonably long sleeping period without interruptions due to train changes. For most passenger it is also undesired to reach the final destination too early in the morning. These objectives are in sharp contrast to standard information systems which focus on minimizing the total travel time. In this paper we present and compare two new approaches to support queries for night train connections. These approaches have been integrated into the Multi-Objective Traffic Information System (MOTIS) which is currently developed by our group. Its purpose is to find all train connections which are attractive from a costumer point of view. With a computational study we demonstrate that our specialized algorithms for night train connections are able to satisfy costumer queries much better than standard methods. This can be achieved with reasonable computational costs: a specialized night train search requires only a few seconds of CPU time