Maximizing railway punctuality : A microsimulation evaluation of robust timetabling methods

• Punctuality is commonly recognized as one of the most important quality indicators for passenger traffic. Despite this, surprisingly few methods for explicitly maximizing punctuality by optimizing the timetable exists in the literature. We study how late-stage adjustments during the capacity allocation can improve punctuality of the traffic. In this paper, we therefore extend a combined simulation-optimization method so it can be used to explicitly maximize the predicted punctuality of a given nonperiodic timetable on a double-track line. The method is evaluated in two microsimulation experiments in the southbound direction of the Swedish Western Main Line using Railsys. We compare the method in simulation with our previous method for minimizing total disutility, two methods from the scientific literature (light robustness, and robustness in critical points) and two naïve strategies. The methods’ effectiveness is assessed in a detailed statistical analysis considering end-station punctuality, total punctuality, and the robustness measure total disutility. Only light robustness results in timetables that in simulation performs better or equally well as the given timetable (based on the national timetable) with respect to all performance measures and evaluated scenarios. The method for maximizing punctuality performs best with respect to total punctuality.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Transportteknik och logistik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Transport Systems and Logistics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Timetabling

Train scheduling

Railroad

Robustness.

Transportvetenskap

Transport Science

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)