Handbook of Optimization in the Railway Industry

Handbook of Optimization in the Railway Industry
Author: Ralf Borndörfer
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2018-03-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319721534

This book promotes the use of mathematical optimization and operations research methods in rail transportation. The editors assembled thirteen contributions from leading scholars to present a unified voice, standardize terminology, and assess the state-of-the-art. There are three main clusters of articles, corresponding to the classical stages of the planning process: strategic, tactical, and operational. These three clusters are further subdivided into five parts which correspond to the main phases of the railway network planning process: network assessment, capacity planning, timetabling, resource planning, and operational planning. Individual chapters cover: Simulation Capacity Assessment Network Design Train Routing Robust Timetabling Event Scheduling Track Allocation Blocking Shunting Rolling Stock Crew Scheduling Dispatching Delay Propagation

Critical Infrastructure

Critical Infrastructure
Author: Alan T. Murray
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2007-05-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 354068056X

This text brings together differing geographic perspectives in modeling and analysis in order to highlight infrastructure weaknesses or plan for their protection. Offering new methodological approaches, the book explores the potential consequences of critical infrastructure failure, stemming from both man-made and natural disasters. The approaches employed are wide-ranging, including geographic, economic and social perspectives.

Railway Engineering Design & Operation

Railway Engineering Design & Operation
Author: G. Passerini
Publisher: WIT Press
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2021-03-10
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1784664197

Originating from presentations at the 17th International Conference on Railway Engineering Design and Operation, this volume contains selected research works on the topic. It is important to continue to update the use of advanced systems by promoting general awareness throughout the management, design, manufacture and operation of railways and other emerging passenger, freight and transit systems. The included papers help to facilitate this goal and place a key focus on the applications of computer systems in advanced railway engineering. These research studies will be of interest to all those involved in the development of railways, including managers, consultants, railway engineers, designers of advanced train control systems and computer specialists.

Computers in Railways XIV

Computers in Railways XIV
Author: C. A. Brebbia
Publisher: WIT Press
Total Pages: 941
Release: 2014-06-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 184564767X

This book contains the 14th proceedings of the, very successful, International conference on Railway Engineering Design and Optimization (COMPRAIL 2014), which began in 1987.

Methods for Capacity Allocation in Deregulated Railway Markets

Methods for Capacity Allocation in Deregulated Railway Markets
Author: Abderrahman Ait Ali
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
Total Pages: 51
Release: 2020-10-01
Genre: Electronic books
ISBN: 9179297714

Faced with increasing challenges, railways around Europe have recently undergone major reforms aiming to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the railway sector. New market structures such as vertical separation, deregulation and open access can allow for reduced public expenditures, increased market competition, and more efficient railway systems. However, these structures have introduced new challenges for managing infrastructure and operations. Railway capacity allocation, previously internally performed within monopolistic national companies, are now conferred to an infrastructure manager. The manager is responsible for transparent and efficient allocation of available capacity to the different (often competing) licensed railway undertakings. This thesis aims at developing a number of methods that can help allocate capacity in a deregulated (vertically separated) railway market. It focuses on efficiency in terms of social welfare, and transparency in terms of clarity and fairness. The work is concerned with successive allocation of capacity for publicly controlled and commercial traffic within a segmented railway market. The contributions include cost benefit analysis methods that allow public transport authorities to assess the social welfare of their traffic, and create efficient schedules. The thesis also describes a market-based transparent capacity allocation where infrastructure managers price commercial train paths to solve capacity conflicts with publicly controlled traffic. Additionally, solution methods are developed to help estimate passenger demand, which is a necessary input both for resolving conflicts, and for creating efficient timetables. Future capacity allocation in deregulated markets may include solution methods from this thesis. However, further experimentations are still required to address concerns such as data, legislation and acceptability. Moreover, future works can include prototyping and pilot projects on the proposed solutions, and investigating legal and digitalisation strategies to facilitate the implementation of such solutions. Med ökande utmaningar har järnvägar runt om i Europa genomgått stora reformer som syftar till att förbättra järnvägssektorns effektivitet och konkurrenskraft. Nya marknadsstrukturer såsom vertikal separering, avreglering och öppet tillträde för flera operatörer kan möjliggöra minskade offentliga kostnader, ökad marknadskonkurrens och effektivare järnvägssystem. Denna omreglering av järnvägsmarknaderna har dock skapat nya utmaningar för hanteringen av järnvägsinfrastruktur och drift. Tilldelning av järnvägskapacitet, vilket tidigare sköttes inom nationella monopolföretag, måste nu göras av en infrastrukturförvaltare (infrastructure manager). Förvaltarens kapacitetstilldelning till olika (ofta konkurrerande) licensierade järnvägsföretag (railway undertakings) måste samtidigt vara transparent, rättvis och leda till ett effektivt kapacitetsutnyttjande. I denna avhandling utvecklas metoder som kan användas av en infrastrukturförvaltare för att tilldela kapacitet i en avreglerad järnvägsmarknad. Den fokuserar på samhällsekonomiskt effektiva utfall men även transparens, tydlighet och rättvisa. Avhandlingens bidrag omfattar samhällsekonomiska analysmetoder som gör det möjligt för regionala kollektivtrafikmyndigheter att bedöma den samhällsekonomiska effektiviteten för deras trafikering och skapa ett effektivt utbud. Med dessa metoder som utgångspunkt beskrivs en marknadsbaserad och transparent tilldelningsprocess för kapacitet där infrastrukturförvaltare prissätter kommersiella tåglägen för att lösa kapacitetskonflikter med offentligt kontrollerad trafik. Dessutom utvecklas optimeringsmetoder för att estimera passagerarefterfrågan och för att skapa effektiva tågtidtabeller. Framtida kapacitetstilldelning på avreglerade marknader kan inkludera lösningsmetoder från denna avhandling. Ytterligare experiment krävs dock fortfarande för att hantera problem såsom data, lagstiftning och godtagbarhet. Dessutom kan framtida arbete omfatta prototyper och pilotprojekt av de föreslagna lösningarna och undersöka lagliga och digitaliseringsstrategier för att underlätta implementeringen av sådana lösningar.

Computers in Railways XI

Computers in Railways XI
Author: John J. Allan
Publisher: WIT Press
Total Pages: 897
Release: 2008
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1845641264

This volume features the proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Computer System Design and Operation in the Railway and other Transit Systems. It provides the latest information on the use of computer-based techniques, and promotes a general awareness of these throughout the business management, design, manufacture and operation of railways and other advanced passenger, freight and transit systems. Of interest to railway managers, consultants, railway engineers (including signal and control engineers), designers of advanced train systems and computer specialists, the proceedings will also be of interest to planners of railway network systems, manufacturers of the track, rolling stock, locomotives and other ancillary equipment and systems; who all have a common interest in the development and application of computer techniques for the solution of problems in the railway and other mass transit systems. Papers included in this volume cover the following topics: Planning; Safety and security; Passenger interface systems; Decision support systems, Computer techniques; Driverless operations; Advanced train control; Train location; Dynamic train regulations; Timetable planning; Operations quality; Communications, Energy management; Power supply; Dynamics and wheel/rail interface; Freight; Condition monitoring; Asset management; Maglev and high speed railway.

Increasing passenger rail capacity

Increasing passenger rail capacity
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2010-06-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780102965230

This report points out that the Department for Transport's latest plans for increasing rail capacity would not deliver as much extra capacity as originally specified, although the taxpayer would have provided nearly as much financial support (£1.2 billion over the period 2009-14) to train companies as originally envisaged. Value for money is also at risk because costs, particularly of rail carriages, have risen at the same time as the recession has reduced the Department's projections of demand. Against this background, the Department has reviewed each individual scheme before entering into contract to ensure that it still offers value for money. By March 2010, the Department had secured use of 526 extra carriages, with a further 106 ordered and due to be ready for operation by 2012. Capacity is now expected for 99,000 extra passengers into London in the morning peak (between 07:00 and 09:59), 15 per cent fewer than originally envisaged, and 25,500 extra passengers into other English cities, 33 per cent fewer. Passenger Transport Executives in the North of England - local government bodies responsible for the public transport in major cities - feel that their expectations for increased capacity in their area have not been met. In 2007 the DfT published a thirty-year strategy which set aside £9 billion for capacity increases. Within this, £7 billion was allocated to Network Rail. The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) scrutinised Network Rail's plans to but the level of cost detail available to ORR restricts its ability to judge or evaluate.

Increasing passenger rail capacity

Increasing passenger rail capacity
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2010-11-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780215555205

The Department for Transport is eighteen months into a five-year, £9 billion investment programme to improve rail travel, in particular by increasing the number of passenger places on trains by March 2014. The Department's latest plans show that all the relevant targets will be missed. There will be 15 per cent fewer extra places delivered in London in the morning peak and 33 per cent fewer into other major cities, compared to the numbers the Department stated would be needed just to hold overcrowding at current levels. The Committee is concerned that the failure to meet the targets set will lead to substantial increases in already unacceptable overcrowding levels by 2014 and beyond. Rising demand for rail travel combined with serious cuts in public expenditure make it imperative that the rail industry becomes more efficient, otherwise the passenger will suffer. The Department says that levels of crowding, and ticket prices, depend on policy decisions about the level of government subsidy, but this ignores the scope for efficiency savings to release resources for front line services. The industry's ability to provide a good quality rail service, including acceptable levels of crowding, depends crucially on the efficiency of all players in the rail industry, and of Network Rail in particular. Rail infrastructure costs more in Great Britain than in other countries, and there is a large potential for Network Rail to improve its efficiency. The Office of Rail Regulation should be challenging Network Rail's efficiency at a detailed level.