Integer programming based solution approaches for the train dispatching problem

Railroads face the challenge of competing with the trucking industry in a fastpaced environment. In this respect, they are working toward running freight trains on schedule and reducing travel times. The planned train schedules consist of departure and arrival times at main stations on the rail network. A detailed timetable, on the other hand, consists of the departure and arrival times of each train in each track section of its route. The train dispatching problem aims to determine detailed timetables over a rail network in order to minimize deviations from the planned schedule. We provide a new integer programming formulation for this problem based on a spacetime network; we propose heuristic algorithms to solve it and present computational results of these algorithms. Our approach includes some realistic constraints that have not been previously considered as well as all the assumptions and practical issues considered by the earlier works

IP-based Techniques for Delay Management with Priority Decisions

Delay management is an important issue in the daily operations of any railway company. The task is to update the planned timetable to a disposition timetable in such a way that the inconvenience for the passengers is as small as possible. The two main decisions that have to be made in this respect are the wait-depart decisions to decide which connections should be maintained in case of delays and the priority decisions that determine the order in which trains are allowed to pass a specific piece of track. They later are necessary in the capacitated case due to the limited capacity of the track system and are crucial to ensure that the headways between different trains are respected and that single-track traffic is routed correctly. While the wait-depart decisions have been intensively studied in literature (e.g. [Sch06,Gat07]), the priority decisions in the capacitated case have been neglected so far in delay management optimization models. In the current paper, we add the priority decisions to the integer programming formulation of the delay management problem and are hence able to deal with the capacitated case. Unfortunately, these constraints are disjunctive constraints that make the resulting event activity network more dense and destroy the property that it does not contain any directed cycle. Nevertheless, we are able to derive reduction techniques for the network which enable us to extend the formulation of the never-meet property from the uncapacitated delay management problem to the capacitated case. We then use our results to derive exact and heuristic solution procedures for solving the delay management problem. The results of the algorithms are evaluated both from a theoretical and a numerical point of view. The latter has been done within a case study using the railway network in the region of Harz, Germany

Public Expenditure Accountability of the Indian Railways

The Indian Railways (IR) is one of the chief logistics agents of the Government of India (GOI). Considering the significant GOI funding into IR, public expenditure accountability (PEA) becomes an issue of importance. This paper looks into different aspects of the expenditure and financial management of IR. The paper is divided into three portions. The first portion looks at the railway-government interface. The main areas of focus here include a brief examination of The Indian Railways Act, the financial interface between the GOI and IR (consisting of budgetary support, market sourced financing and dividend payments), evaluating the need for a separate railway budget, political interference in the activities of IR and the interaction of IR with state governments. The second portion of the paper deals with the internal financial management of IR. In this section, there is an effort to evaluate the revenue generation by IR along with suggestions for enhancing its potential. This is followed by a look at the issue of subsidies to IR. Investment decisions of IR and the Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF) along with the issue of excess manpower and cost reduction are other topics included in this section. The paper ends with a roadmap to corporatisation as a possible solution to the problems IR is faced with. The main areas dealt with are financial issues, pensions, the need for customer focus, the importance of focus on core competencies and a need to revamp IRs administrative structure and attitude.

Competition in Rail Transport: A New Opportunity for Railways?

Throughout Europe, and in many other parts of the world, railways are suffering from declining market share and deteriorating financial performance; consequently there is renewed interest in deregulation and the introduction of competition into rail transport as a way of improving performance. An EC Directive now provides for access to rail infrastructure for third parties to run their own international trains in some circumstances. After a long debate, the British Government in July 1992 published a White Paper (New Opportunities for the Railways) which aimed to go much further. It would both open access to the infrastructure for any licensed operator and franchise out existing passenger services via a competitive bidding process; all freight services would be privatised outright. Draft legislation to implement these proposals, as well as a string of consultation documents on details have also been published, and an Interim Report from the Select Committee of Members of Parliament examining the proposals has appeared. This paper review the debate that is currently raging over the British government proposals. It considers the potential for innovation and cost savings which they offer, as well as the problems of increased transactions costs, lack of competitive bidding and other potential inefficiencies of the new system. The key issue of the charging regime for access to the infrastructure is also addressed. It is concluded that competition in the provision of freight services is desirable, but that passenger services present many more problems, and that the proposals need modification if they are to meet their objectives

Techniques for railway restructuring

This report was sponsored by the Union of African Railways, as part of a Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Project task aimed at defining what is involved in restructuring railways so that they behave more like market driven enterprises. The question addressed in this document is not whether the railway should be restructured, but how. The report recommends four types of action to be employed in the process of institutional reform : 1) a strategic plan which defines the environment in which the railway will function and focuses on the crucial policy issues that will guide or influence the railway's planning and actions, 2) a contract plan which defines the roles and responsibilities of the railway and its owner. This plan flows from the strategic plan and should not be developed in isolation from related policy and funding objectives of the government and railway. 3) A management plan that clarifies the objectives of the senior railway executives and their roles and responsibilities in relation to the executive director, and 4) an enabling actions plan, which lists most of the initiatives that must be taken in conjunction with implementation of the first three plans. The focus should be to ensure that the roles and responsibilities defined will actually be realized in law or enforceable agreement.Railways Transport,Banks&Banking Reform,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Roads&Highways

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

Transport in the Trans-Pennine Corridor: Present Conditions and Future Options. Interregional Study Working Paper 3.

This paper reports on a desk study carried out by the Institute for Transport Studies as part of a wider study of opportunities for inter-regional working in the trans-Pennine corridor, considering economic, environmental and transport issues. It draws together available information on transport and movement flows in the trans-Pennine corridor. These patterns of movement are examined from a broad perspective which considers intra-regional, inter- regional and international movements within and across the study area. The report proposes a regional package approach to transport, based on demand management and modal transfer