Robust optimization of train timetables with short-length and full-length services considering uncertain passenger volume and service choice behavior

Authors

Fangsheng Wang
Pengling Wang
Zixuan Zhu
Ruihua Xu
Hanchuan Pan
Nikola Bešinović

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2024

Subject Area

place - asia, place - urban, mode - subway/metro, operations - scheduling, operations - capacity, operations - crowding, ridership - behaviour, ridership - demand

Keywords

Train, timetabling

Abstract

Train timetables with a combination of short-length and full-length services can adapt to spatial and temporal variations in demand. However, with such timetables, some passengers may choose to catch an earlier short-length service and then transfer to a full-length service to reach their destinations rather than waiting for a crowded full-length service. This uncertain service choice behavior frequently occurs, which, however, was not well considered in most studies on demand-oriented timetabling. Therefore, this study presents a robust timetabling approach based on the scenario-based method considering uncertain passenger volumes and service choice behavior for choosing different types of train services. A customized decomposition-based method with an iterative solution procedure is designed to solve the proposed model. In each iteration, a multi-agent-based simulation algorithm is developed to update passengers’ travel utility and the service choice preference proportion based on the previous iteration’s timetabling results. To obtain high-quality solutions in an acceptable computing time, a hybrid “ALNS + GUROBI” algorithm is developed to handle the timetabling problems for large-scale cases. The proposed method optimizes the train timetables for Xi’an Metro Line 3 in China. Our results indicate that the proposed method can account for uncertain passenger volumes and service choice behavior by adjusting the short-length plans and train headways to match the transport capacity to passenger demand.

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

Wang, F., Wang, P., Zhu, Z., Xu, R., Pan, H., & Bešinović, N. (2024). Robust optimization of train timetables with short-length and full-length services considering uncertain passenger volume and service choice behavior. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 169, 104855.