Recent success stories on integrated optimization of railway systems

Authors

Ralf Borndörfer
Torsten Klug
Leonardo Lamorgese
Carlo Mannino
Markus Reuther
Thomas Schlechte

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2017

Subject Area

planning - service improvement, technology - intelligent transport systems

Keywords

Railway planning, Railway operations, Efficient utilization of resources, Capacity optimization

Abstract

Planning and operating railway transportation systems is an extremely hard task due to the combinatorial complexity of the underlying discrete optimization problems, the technical intricacies, and the immense size of the problem instances. Because of that, however, mathematical models and optimization techniques can result in large gains for both railway customers and operators, e.g., in terms of cost reductions or service quality improvements. In the last years a large and growing group of researchers in the OR community have devoted their attention to this domain developing mathematical models and optimization approaches to tackle many of the relevant problems in the railway planning process. However, there is still a gap to bridge between theory and practice (e.g. Cacchiani et al., 2014; Borndörfer et al., 2010), with a few notable exceptions. In this paper we address three individual success stories, namely, long-term freight train routing (part I), mid-term rolling stock rotation planning (part II), and real-time train dispatching (part III). In each case, we describe real-life, successful implementations. We will discuss the individual problem setting, survey the optimization literature, and focus on particular aspects addressed by the mathematical models. We demonstrate on concrete applications how mathematical optimization can support railway planning and operations. This gives proof that mathematical optimization can support the planning of railway resources. Thus, mathematical models and optimization can lead to a greater efficiency of railway operations and will serve as a powerful and innovative tool to meet recent challenges of the railway industry.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Transportation Research Part C Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0968090X

Recommended Citation

Borndörfer, R., Klug, T., Lamorgese, L., Mannino, C., Reuther, M., & Schlechte, T. (2017). Recent success stories on integrated optimization of railway systems. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Vol. 74, pp. 196–211.