A MULTI-OBJECTIVE TRAIN SCHEDULING MODEL AND SOLUTION

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2004

Subject Area

operations - scheduling, infrastructure - track, ridership - commuting, mode - rail

Keywords

Travel time, Single track, Sensitivity analysis, Scheduling, Railways, Railroads, Passengers, Passenger trains, Pareto frontier, Optimization, Optimisation, Networks, Multiple track, Journey time, Fuel consumption, Customer satisfaction

Abstract

Train scheduling is a highly complex task, since the physical railroad network is shared by a large number of both freight and passenger trains. This study develops a multi-objective optimization model for the passenger train-scheduling problem on a railroad network that includes single and multiple-tracks, as well as multiple platforms with different train capacities. In this study, lowering the fuel consumption cost is used as the measure of satisfaction of the railroad company and shortening the total passenger-time is being regarded as the passenger satisfaction criterion. The solution of the problem consists of two steps. To solve the problem, the Pareto frontier first is determined. Based on the obtained Pareto frontier, detailed multi-objective optimization then is performed using the distance-based method with three types of distances. A simple numerical example is given to illustrate the model, solution method and results. The sensitivity of the solutions was also examined. To demonstrate the applicability of the model and solution procedure, the results from 21 worked numerical examples are given.

Comments

Transportation Research Part B Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01912615

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