Robust routing in station areas with reducing capacity utilisation (PPT)

Transport and Plannin

Toward operationally feasible railway timetables (PPT)

Power Point PresentatieTransport and Plannin

A simulation-based optimization approach for the calibration of dynamic train speed profiles

Predictions of railway traffic are needed by planners and dispatchers for the design of robust timetables and real-time traffic management of perturbed conditions. These tasks can be effectively performed only when using train running time models which reliably describe actual speed profiles. To this purpose calibration of model parameters against field data is a necessity. In this paper a simulation-based optimization approach is introduced to calibrate the parameters of the train dynamics equations against field data collected at the level of track sections. A genetic algorithm is used to minimize the error between simulated and observed speed profiles. Furthermore, a procedure for the estimation of train lengths has been developed. This method has been applied to trains with different rolling stock running on the Rotterdam-Delft corridor in the Netherlands. The model parameters were calibrated for a significant number of trains of different compositions. We also derived probability distributions for each parameter which can be usefully employed for simulations. The results show that the train length estimation model obtained good computation accuracy. The effectiveness of the calibration method in giving a reliable estimation of the real train path trajectories is shown. It has been observed that some of the parameters of tractive effort and resistance do not affect the train behaviour significantly. Also, the braking rate is significantly smoother than the default value used by the railway undertaking while calibrated resistance parameters tend to have lower mean than defaults. Finally, the computational efficiency of the approach is suitable for real-time applications.Transport & PlanningCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Line planning problem in a dense High-Speed Rail corridor

To satisfy the growing passenger transportation demands and improve the service quality in a railway system, a high-quality line plan needs to be designed. Line planning is an initial optimization problem in the process of railway transportation management, which includes the origin and destination (OD) of trains, routes, stop patterns and frequencies. Aiming to a optimal line plan for a dense high-speed railway corridor, this paper proposes a optimization model with objectives of minimizing passenger's total travel time and empty-seat-hour. Considering the problem is NP-hard, we introduce a novel matheuristic approach that combines metaheuristic and mathematical programming technique. Genetic algorithm (GA) is developed for providing possible combination of frequencies, and integer linear program (ILP) is applied for optimization of passenger assignment model. With integration of both, we produce a optimal line plan with frequencies. Finally numerical experiments of Chinese case are applied to verify the proposed model and approach.Transport and Plannin

An integrated micro-macro approach to robust railway timetabling

With the increasing demand for railway transportation infrastructure managers need improved automatic timetabling tools that provide feasible timetables with enhanced performance in short computation times. This paper proposes a hierarchical framework for timetable design which combines a microscopic and a macroscopic model of the network. The framework performs an iterative adjustment of train running and minimum headway times until a feasible and stable timetable has been generated at the microscopic level. The macroscopic model optimizes a trade-off between minimal travel times and maximal robustness using an Integer Linear Programming formulation which includes a measure for delay recovery computed by an integrated delay propagation model in a Monte Carlo setting. The application to an area of the Dutch railway network shows the ability of the approach to automatically compute a feasible, stable and robust timetable. Practitioners can use this approach both for effective timetabling and post-evaluation of existing timetables

The Missing Piece to the Puzzle:Advancing Train Planning for a Digital Great British Railway

Along with much of Europe and the global trend towards in-cab signalling, Great Britain (GB) rail is transitioning to Radio-based European Train Control System (ETCS). In collaboration with several universities and research partners, Network Rail have undertaken a programme of R&D to build on the opportunities that Radio-based ETCS offers, including the move towards automatic train operation (ATO), and integrated, centralised traffic management systems that maximise the potential in capacity, performance and energy efficiency for passenger and freight customers. Bringing the train planning and timetabling capabilities into the modernised, data driven, information rich world is a significant puzzle piece of turning opportunities offered by the signalling and control technologies into the day-to-day operations of the railway. This paper covers the research carried out into the characteristics of a radio-based ETCS railway that can be analysed for a goal-based state of the art train planning capability. It considers the advancement of tools, techniques, processes and skills that are required to plan, operate and regulate the railway through automatic train operations and future traffic management systems, ultimately harmonising planning, real-time operations and post-operations performance analysis

The Missing Piece to the Puzzle:Advancing Train Planning for a Digital Great British Railway

Along with much of Europe and the global trend towards in-cab signalling, Great Britain (GB) rail is transitioning to Radio-based European Train Control System (ETCS). In collaboration with several universities and research partners, Network Rail have undertaken a programme of R&D to build on the opportunities that Radio-based ETCS offers, including the move towards automatic train operation (ATO), and integrated, centralised traffic management systems that maximise the potential in capacity, performance and energy efficiency for passenger and freight customers. Bringing the train planning and timetabling capabilities into the modernised, data driven, information rich world is a significant puzzle piece of turning opportunities offered by the signalling and control technologies into the day-to-day operations of the railway. This paper covers the research carried out into the characteristics of a radio-based ETCS railway that can be analysed for a goal-based state of the art train planning capability. It considers the advancement of tools, techniques, processes and skills that are required to plan, operate and regulate the railway through automatic train operations and future traffic management systems, ultimately harmonising planning, real-time operations and post-operations performance analysis

A three-level framework for performance-based railway timetabling

The performance of railway operations depends highly on the quality of the railway timetable. In particular for dense railway networks it can be challenging to obtain a stable robust conflict-free and energy-efficient timetable with acceptable infrastructure occupation and short journey times. This paper presents a performance-based railway timetabling framework integrating timetable construction and evaluation on three levels: microscopic, macroscopic, and a corridor fine-tuning level, where each performance indicator is optimized or evaluated at the appropriate level. A modular implementation of the three-level framework is presented and demonstrated on a case study on the Dutch railway network illustrating the feasibility of this approach to achieve the highest timetabling design level