Cyclic Railway Timetabling: A Stochastic Optimization Approach

32 Pages Posted: 25 Oct 2005

See all articles by L. G. Kroon

L. G. Kroon

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Department of Technology and Operations Management; Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM); NS Reizigers - Department of Logistics

Rommert Dekker

Erasmus University, Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Economics ; Econometric Institute; Erasmus University, Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) ; Tinbergen Institute Rotterdam

M. J. C. M. Vromans

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR)

Date Written: October 2, 2005

Abstract

Real-time railway operations are subject to stochastic disturbances. However, a railway timetable is a deterministic plan. Thus a timetable should be designed in such a way that it can absorb the stochastic disturbances as well as possible. To that end, a timetable contains buffer times between trains and supplements in running times and dwell times. This paper first describes a stochastic optimization model that can be used to find an optimal allocation of the running time supplements of a single train on a number of consecutive trips along the same line. The aim of this model is to minimize the average delay of the train. The model is then extended such that it can be used to improve a given cyclic timetable for a number of trains on a common infrastructure. Computational results show that the average delay of the trains can be reduced substantially by applying relatively small modifications to the timetable. In particular, allocating the running time supplements in a different way than what is usual in practice can be useful.

Keywords: railway transportation, stochastic optimization, punctuality, buffer times, cyclic timetables

Suggested Citation

Kroon, Leo and Dekker, Rommert and Dekker, Rommert and Vromans, Michiel J.C.M., Cyclic Railway Timetabling: A Stochastic Optimization Approach (October 2, 2005). ERIM Report Series Reference No. ERS-2005-051-LIS, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=828171

Leo Kroon (Contact Author)

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Department of Technology and Operations Management ( email )

RSM Erasmus University
PO Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands
+31 0 10 408 1957 (Phone)
+31 0 10 408 9010 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://web.eur.nl/fbk/dep/dep1/Introduction/Staff/People/Kroon

Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands

NS Reizigers - Department of Logistics

3500 HA Utrecht
Netherlands

Rommert Dekker

Erasmus University, Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam, NL 3062 PA
Netherlands
+31 10 408 1274 (Phone)
+31 10 408 9162 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.few.eur.nl/few/people/rdekker/

Econometric Institute ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.eur.nl/people/rommert-dekker

Erasmus University, Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands

Tinbergen Institute Rotterdam ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands

Michiel J.C.M. Vromans

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) ( email )

Burgemeester Oudlaan 50
3000 DR Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland 3062PA
Netherlands

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