A combined simulation-optimization approach for minimizing travel time and delays in railway timetables. (August 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Högdahl, Johan; Bohlin, Markus; Fröidh, Oskar
• Is Part Of: Transportation research. Volume 126(2019)
• Page Start: 192
• Page End: 212
• Publication Date: 2019-08
• Subjects: Railroad -- Robustness -- Optimization -- Simulation -- Punctuality; Transportation -- Research -- Periodicals; Transportation -- Mathematical models -- Periodicals
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2019.04.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0191-2615

Abstract

Highlights: An approach to minimize the weighted sum of scheduled travel time and expected delays for a given timetable. A macroscopic timetabling model using micro-simulation data to forecast reliability. The approach extends timetable optimization with reliability estimates in the objective. Experiments indicate improved benefit by 2–5% and improved punctuality by 8–25%. Abstract: Minimal travel time and maximal reliability are two of the most important properties of a railway transportation service. This paper considers the problem of finding a timetable for a given set of departures that minimizes the weighted sum of scheduled travel time and expected delay, thereby capturing these two important socio-economic properties of a timetable. To accurately represent the complex secondary delays in operational railway traffic, an approach combining microscopic simulation and macroscopic timetable optimization is proposed. To predict the expected delay in the macroscopic timetable, a surrogate function is formulated, as well as a subproblem to calibrate the parameters in the model. In a set of computational experiments, the approach increased the socio-economic benefit by 2–5% and improved the punctuality by 8–25%.