Efficient scheduling of railway traffic based on global information of train

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2008

Subject Area

operations - scheduling, operations - traffic, planning - signage/information, mode - rail

Keywords

Trips, Travel, Train traffic, Simulation, Schedules and scheduling, Real time information, Railroad traffic, Journeys, Delays, Computer simulation, Algorithms

Abstract

This paper presents an improved simulation method for solving the train scheduling problem to reduce the total travel time on the single-track railway. An algorithm based on the global information of the train is designed to obtain a more effective travel advance strategy of the train than the TAS method proposed by Dorfman and Medanic [Dorfman, M.J., Medanic, J., 2004. Scheduling trains on a railway network using a discrete-event model of railway traffic. Transportation Research Part B 38 (1), 81-98]. Based on the non-local information, the authors present a train control method with looser restraints to avoid the deadlock. Moreover, operation conditions of trains under the local information are analyzed in detail, and the improved method can describe the behaviors of acceleration and deceleration of trains. The simulation results show that the total delay time of trains decreases remarkably. This fact means that the improved method can obtain a better schedule than the method proposed by Dorfman and Medanic (2004). Compared with the mathematical programming method, the authors' method has a better computational performance, and can quickly obtain a good feasible meet-pass plan. The approach described in this paper is designed to be a decision support tool for train dispatchers to schedule the trains in real time.

Comments

Transportation Research Part B Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01912615

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