Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management最新文献

Study on the platoon planning of virtual coupling (VC) is indispensable for both passenger and freight railway operation in terms of capacity, scheduling, and timetabling. As an advanced technology in train operation and control systems, VC can significantly improve the performance of rail operations, with regards to capacity, flexibility and robustness. In this study, we mainly focus on the former one, i.e., to maximize the capacity gains, by employing the relative braking distance based spacing policy for heterogenous train traffic. To our knowledge, this article is the first to address the VC intra-platoon planning problem for a railway network. The main function/purpose of this study is to decide a leader train and allocate an order to the heterogeneous follower trains for the virtually coupled platoon in the off-line mode. The objective is transformed to minimize and compare the sum of minimum safe distance for platoons on the common shared route sections in the railway network from various perspectives, so as to seek the desirable orders of potential train consists within the platoons from the perspective of the whole railway network. Our contributions are mainly threefold. First, the conditions for train platooning under virtual coupling are synthesized. Second, the solution flow charts and algorithms for simulation are proposed, including general framework for simulation, classification of prioritizing the shared common route section, and flow charts and algorithms for decision of coupling order to train platoons. Finally, the proposed methodology was tested and discussed on the designed computational experiment (i.e., numerical simulations of a typical case study with two sets of test examples) via NetLogo platform. The numerical simulation results series revealed some key findings and validated the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. Results of this study can provide guidance to decision makers in timetabling and potential capacity bottleneck identification under VC. We believe that it is worth investigating and further advancing this research direction in the future.

We study the solution of the rolling stock rotation problem with predictive maintenance (RSRP-PdM) by an iterative refinement approach that is based on a state-expanded event-graph. In this graph, the states are parameters of a failure distribution, and paths correspond to vehicle rotations with associated health state approximations. An optimal set of paths including maintenance can be computed by solving an integer linear program. Afterwards, the graph is refined and the procedure repeated. An associated linear program gives rise to a lower bound that can be used to determine the solution quality. Computational results for six instances derived from real-world timetables of a German railway company are presented. The results show the effectiveness of the approach and the quality of the solutions.

Railway operations may experience delays due to technical issues or weather conditions. Accurate prediction of such delays can enhance the quality of rail transport services and the effectiveness of railway operations. The study has developed the arrival delay prediction model using random forest regression based on the train operation data from the Ankara - Eskişehir high-speed train line in Turkey. The model can simultaneously predict arrival delays at all downstream stations on this line and continuously update these predictions as new information about train movements becomes available. The accuracy rates of the model vary from 76% to 99% under a 1-min prediction error. The results show that incorporating variables related to weather conditions and technical problems related to train control systems into the model improves prediction performance. The contribution of these variables to the model performance increases as the prediction horizon widens. The model results suggest that the model predictions may assist network managers in making better decisions about train operations. In order to evaluate the model's performance from the passengers' point of view, the study has proposed two methods: the proportion of late predictions and the stability of forecasts. The findings indicate that most trains (between 96.7% and 99%) have stable arrival delay predictions at target stations. The proportion of 2-min (or greater) late predictions, which means that the predicted delay exceeds the actual delay by 2 min or more, fluctuates from 14% to 0.5%, depending on the prediction horizon. Although the ratio for the short horizons (one station ahead) becomes relatively low, it is necessary to be cautious when using the model predictions to inform passengers because a prediction of more than 1 min late for short horizons might have negative consequences (e.g., misleading passengers to leave stations).

Signal passed at danger (SPAD) is the most frequent cause of rail accidents as confirmed by relevant investigation in the field. The purpose of this paper was to identify the trends in SPAD research. Consequently, we aim to inspire and motivate future researchers, particularly academicians, to delve into this critical issue. Currently, the majority of researchers working on this topic are from the railway industry. For this reason, conducting a comprehensive review of existing research would yield significant value to both the academic and technical communities. This research examines the developments and accomplishments in this field concerning SPAD using the bibliometric library of R software from 1966 to the end of 2022. By bridging the gap in the existing literature, this research facilitates the global exchange of knowledge among railway experts, ultimately contributing to the reduction of safety risks and associated economic costs.

Energy and environmental sustainability in transportation are becoming ever more important. In Brazil, the system electric traction represents the largest consumption of electric energy in the subway system. Electrified railway systems play an important role in contributing to the reduction of energy usage and CO2 emissions compared with other transport modes. For subway transit systems with frequently cycles of departures and braking of trains, the effective use of regenerative braking energy is a significant way to reduce the net energy consumption. The recovery of regenerative energy produced by braking trains of a subway system is essential to increase its energy efficiency, however difficult to apply in the São Paulo subway due to the short headway between train. This paper proposes evaluate through traction power network modeling and the computer simulation the application and feasibility of using inverter substation (ISS) to maximize the recovery of regenerative braking energy. The results of the study of Line 1 - Blue of the São Paulo’s metro city indicate that using inverter substation could reduce the energy consumption at the rectifier substation (RSS) by nearly 12,94% compared to the system without the inverter substation.

A key strategy for increasing railway capacity is utilizing infrastructure more efficiently. While much research has been completed on methods for assessing railway capacity, very little has focused on the details of capacity utilisation, such as assessing the various ways trains use capacity, the impacts of specific blocking time components, and how train dynamics (accelerating, cruising, braking, and dwelling) affect capacity.

This paper presents a methodology for comparing planned occupancy to actual occupancy under real operations and applies it in a case study. The methodology is based on identifying a critical path which represents an extension of bottleneck concept presented in UIC leaflet 406. The methodology was applied in a case study to determine the specific blocking times and train dynamics which cause a blocking time gap for a sequence of trains, both a-priori and a-posteriori, after considering the operational variations. The analysis of real operations with variations in train trajectories shows that capacity occupation is mostly influenced by train sequence heterogeneity in the original schedule. The varying effects of operations have a smaller but relevant impact. The methods developed in this paper can be used to help assess railway capacity under real operations.

This paper systematically reviewed the slipping operation, which is a train separation at cruising speed. For this, we describe the historical and operational background of the operation scenario practiced for over 100 years. Based on the concept of slipping, we discuss the holistic potential to improve current railway operations, considering travel time saving, energy saving, the increase of capacity utilization, station topology, driver requirements, and vehicle usage. Finally, a simulation of a theoretical urban railway line with several scenarios quantifies the magnitudes of the improvements. Based on the slipping test cases, one parameter can improve enormously, e.g., up to −65 % energy saving, −33 % capacity usage, and travel time reductions. Otherwise, slipping can slightly improve several parameters simultaneously.

Regulation, governance and organisational issues are sensitive aspects in the market of public utilities especially when these markets require and aim at initiating homogenisation processes.

The paper aims at understanding how European countries responded to supranational legislation, in terms of governance, management and organisational aspects, on the establishment of Railway Regulatory Bodies and if the steps taken by the European Union were sufficient to fulfil the aim of creating an integrated railway area.

We use a neo-institutional lens to interpret documentary sources, such as regulatory sources (Regulations, circulars and directives of the EU) and the responses given to a semi-structured questionnaire submitted to the 28 European Railway Regulatory Authorities.

The paper shows that this regulatory field faced differentiated isomorphism and that there is a growing trend towards an organisational model we characterised as ‘Generalist Agency’.

We contribute to the literature on the regulation of public utilities, showing that differentiated isomorphism may occur when coercive isomorphism by supranational legislation is mitigated by national differences, and provide policy implications on governance and regulation of the transport industry.

The optimization of shunting operations has been recognized as a cost-effective measure for rail companies, but its impact on rolling stock management has not been fully explored. Previous research on shunting operations has often focused on operational decisions, neglecting the effect of maintenance scheduling activities in an integrated approach. Our study aims to examine the long-term effects of mileage-based maintenance on freight train management and its impact on shunting operations and fleet management. We propose 4 Shunt-In policies based on practitioners' criteria that describe the wagon allocation to outbound trains based on both mileage and trajectories-based shunting criteria. To evaluate the methodology, we conduct simulations using a projected timetable from 2020 to 2040 of the freight services at the Bettembourg Multimodal Terminal in Luxembourg. The results are compared against a theoretical No-Maintenance scenario to assess the underestimation's magnitude. Our findings show that mileage-based maintenance has a significant impact on various aspects of freight management and that the choice of wagons in an outbound train can result in up to 11% increase in the number of shunting operations, as well as high underestimation in terms of expected fleet size and average mileage to be performed by the rolling stocks.

International rail transport plays an essential role in the supply chain. Eurasian rail transport has been a successful example since its launch in 2011 and has increased over the last decade. However, a crucial question arises: Does this intercontinental rail service fulfill the transport requirements of the supply chain, and can it be quantified? Cost, reliability, transport time, and flexibility are essential factors in selecting transport modes in the supply chain. Current performance parameters mainly focus on efficiency, which may conflict with supply chain performance requirements. Before this research, it was difficult to quantify the international rail services; the frequently used tonne-based, volume-based (TEU), number of block trains, loaded, or empty container measurement forms cannot adequately capture the requirements of the global supply chain. Our literature review highlighted the need for standardized service attributes in international rail transport. Additionally, we identified a misalignment between rail performance and the demands of the global supply chain. This misalignment could impede the integration of international rail transport into the global supply chain. This paper contributes by developing universally applicable SCOR-Rail Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for international rail transport based on the Supply-chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model. It bridges the measurement gap between the supply chain and international rail transport, giving railway companies a tool to design and monitor their services. They could also be easily integrated into rail planning for future research. Our initial assessment based on the proposed measurement framework revealed that Eurasian rail transport has the potential for improvement.