Allocation of Railway Rolling Stock for Passenger Trains

For a commercially operating railway company, providing a high level of service for the passengers is of utmost importance. The latter requires a high punctuality of the trains and an adequate rolling stock capacity. Unfortunately, the latter is currently (2002) one of the bottlenecks in the service provision by the main Dutch railway operator NS Reizigers. Especially during the morning rush hours, many passengers cannot be transported according to the usual service standards due to a shortage of the rolling stock capacity. On the other hand, a more effective allocation of the available rolling stock capacity seems to be feasible, since there are also several trains with some slack capacity. The effectiveness of the rolling stock capacity is determined mainly by the allocation of the train types and subtypes to the lines. Therefore, we describe in this paper a model that can be used to find an optimal allocation of train types and subtypes to train series. This optimal allocation is more effective than the manually planned one, which is accomplished by minimizing the shortages of capacity during the rush hours. The model is implemented in the modeling language OPL Studio 3.1, solved by CPLEX 7.0, and tested on several scenarios based on the 2001-2002 timetable of NS Reizigers. The results of the model were received positively, both by the planners and by the management in practice, since these results showed that a significant service improvement over the manually planned allocation can be achieved within a shorter throughput time of the involved part of the planning process.operations research;transportation;railways;capacity allocation;rolling stock

Crew Scheduling for Netherlands Railways: "destination: customer"

: In this paper we describe the use of a set covering model with additional constraints for scheduling train drivers and conductors for the Dutch railway operator NS Reizigers. The schedules were generated according to new rules originating from the project "Destination: Customer" ("Bestemming: Klant" in Dutch). This project is carried out by NS Reizigers in order to increase the quality and the punctuality of its train services. With respect to the scheduling of drivers and conductors, this project involves the generation of efficient and acceptable duties with a high robustness against the transfer of delays of trains. A key issue for the acceptability of the duties is the included amount of variation per duty. The applied set covering model is solved by dynamic column generation techniques, Lagrangean relaxation and powerful heuristics. The model and the solution techniques are part of the TURNI system, which is currently used by NS Reizigers for carrying out several analyses concerning the required capacities of the depots. The latter are strongly influenced by the new rules.crew scheduling;dynamic column generation;lagrange relaxation;railways;set covering model

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

Crew Scheduling for Netherlands Railways: "destination: customer"

: In this paper we describe the use of a set covering model with additional constraints for scheduling train drivers and conductors for the Dutch railway operator NS Reizigers. The schedules were generated according to new rules originating from the project "Destination: Customer" ("Bestemming: Klant" in Dutch). This project is carried out by NS Reizigers in order to increase the quality and the punctuality of its train services. With respect to the scheduling of drivers and conductors, this project involves the generation of efficient and acceptable duties with a high robustness against the transfer of delays of trains. A key issue for the acceptability of the duties is the included amount of variation per duty. The applied set covering model is solved by dynamic column generation techniques, Lagrangean relaxation and powerful heuristics. The model and the solution techniques are part of the TURNI system, which is currently used by NS Reizigers for carrying out several analyses concerning the required capacities of the depots. The latter are strongly influenced by the new rules

Regelmaat tram en bus belangrijker dan snelheid

Voor tram- en busreizigers zijn regelmaat en betrouwbaarheid doorslaggevender dan een hogere voertuigsnelheid. Doorstroming van de voertuigen mag geen doel op zich worden. Het afschaffen van haltes in stedelijk gebied creëert grotere onderlinge halte-afstanden, een maatregel die de automobilist niet zal verleiden om over te stappen naar het openbaar vervoer. De OV-bedrijven kunnen de vertragingen die ze zelf veroorzaken (te beperkte toegangsdeuren, halte-inrichting, podesten, informatie naar de reizigers, …) ook zelf wegnemen. De winst die deze maatregelen opleveren, kan de kwaliteit van de dienstuitvoering gevoelig verbeteren

‘Correcte reizigersaantallen zijn must voor efficiënt werkend vervoersbedrijf’

Al jarenlang is er discussie over de reizigersaantallen van De Lijn. Omdat de vervoersmaatschappij daarbij voor een deel uitgaat van hypotheses, vinden velen de cijfers onbetrouwbaar. Vorige maand nam de raad van bestuur van De Lijn een drastische beslissing: de vervoersmaatschappij zal tot de zomer van 2019 geen totale reizigerscijfers meer bekendmaken. “Werd die beslissing genomen als bescherming tegen potentiële concurrenten, voor het geval de volgende Vlaamse regering volledige uitbesteding zou verkiezen boven het blijven inbesteden van het tram- en busaanbod?”, vraagt Johan De Mol zich af. “Of in het licht van de opstart van de vervoerregio’s?

Applying Operations Research techniques to planning of train shunting

In this paper, we discuss a model-based algorithmic approach for supporting planners in the creation of shunt plans for passenger trains. The approach provides an example of a mathematical model and a corresponding solution approach for model based support. We introduce a four-step solution approach and we discuss how the planners are supported by this approach. Finally, we present computational results for these steps and give some suggestions for further research.A* search;railway optimization;real world application;routing

Optimising halting station of passenger railway lines

In many real life passenger railway networks, the types of stations and lines characterisethe halting stations of the train lines. Common types are Regional, Interregional or Intercity.This paper considers the problem of altering the halts of lines by both upgrading and downgrading stations, such that this results in less total travel time. We propose a combination of reduction methods, Lagrangian relaxation, and a problem-specific multiplier adjustment algorithm to solve the presented mixed integer linear programming formulation. A computational study of several real-life instances based on problem data of the Dutch passenger railway operator NS Reizigers is included.mathematical economics and econometrics ;

Allocation of Railway Rolling Stock for Passenger Trains

For a commercially operating railway company, providing a high level of service for the passengers is of utmost importance. The latter requires a high punctuality of the trains and an adequate rolling stock capacity. Unfortunately, the latter is currently (2002) one of the bottlenecks in the service provision by the main Dutch railway operator NS Reizigers. Especially during the morning rush hours, many passengers cannot be transported according to the usual service standards due to a shortage of the ro