A subjective capacity evaluation model for single-track railway system with δ-balanced traffic and λ-tolerance level. (November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Feng; Gao, Ziyou; Wang, David Z.W.; Liu, Ronghui; Tang, Tao; Wu, Jianjun; Yang, Lixing
• Is Part Of: Transportation research. Volume 105(2017)
• Page Start: 43
• Page End: 66
• Publication Date: 2017-11
• Subjects: Railway capacity -- Tolerance level -- Balance condition -- Compaction pattern -- Departure time choice; Transportation -- Research -- Periodicals; Transportation -- Mathematical models -- Periodicals
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2017.08.020
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0191-2615

Abstract

Highlights: The concepts of a δ-balance degree and a λ-tolerance level are introduced to reflect the subjective measure of the railway administrator for capacity evaluation. A train balance scheduling problem with initial departure time choice of trains is embedded into the measure of railway capacity. A highly efficient heuristic procedure based on the concept of compaction distribution is developed to solve the train balance scheduling problem. The two-way traffic loading capacity of a single-track railway corridor is analyzed in detail under different tolerance levels and balance degrees. The transition regions of traffic loading capacity are identified. Abstract: In this paper, we propose a method to measure the capacity of single-track railway corridors subject to a given degree of balance between the two directional traffic loads and a permitted overall delay level. We introduce the concepts of δ-balance degree and λ-tolerance level to reflect the subjective measures of the railway administrator for capacity evaluation. A train balance scheduling problem with initial departure time choice of trains is embedded into the measure of railway capacity. The combined scheduling and capacity evaluation method is formulated as a 0-1 mixed integer programming model, and solved using a simple dichotomization-based heuristic method. A highly efficient heuristic procedure based on the concept of compaction pattern is developed to solve the train balance scheduling problem, and the numerical results demonstrate that the method yields high-quality solutions close to the optimal ones using the CPLEX solver. The two-way traffic loading capacity of a single-track railway corridor is analyzed in detail under different tolerance levels and balance degrees. The transition regions of traffic loading capacity are identified, and provide a useful decision support tool for the railway administrators in dealing with train rescheduling requests under disturbance or disruption scenarios.