An Efficient Hybrid Approach for Scheduling the Train Timetable for the Longer Distance High-Speed Railway

Zeyu Wang, Leishan Zhou, Bin Guo, Xing Chen and Hanxiao Zhou
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Zeyu Wang: Department of Transportation Management Engineering, School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Leishan Zhou: Department of Transportation Management Engineering, School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Bin Guo: State Research Center of Rail Transit Technology Education and Service, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Xing Chen: Nanchang Metro, Nanchang 330038, China
Hanxiao Zhou: Department of Transportation Management Engineering, School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-22

Abstract: Compared with other modes of transportation, a high-speed railway has energy saving advantages; it is environmentally friendly, safe, and convenient for large capacity transportation between cities. With the expansion of the high-speed railway network, the operation of high-speed railways needs to be improved urgently. In this paper, a hybrid approach for quickly solving the timetable of high-speed railways, inspired by the periodic model and the aperiodic model, is proposed. A space–time decomposition method is proposed to convert the complex passenger travel demands into service plans and decompose the original problem into several sub-problems, to reduce the solving complexity. An integer programming model is proposed for the sub-problems, and then solved in parallel with CPLEX. After that, a local search algorithm is designed to combine the timetables of different periods, considering the safety operation constraints. The hybrid approach is tested on a real-world case study, based on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway (HSR), and the results show that the train timetable calculated by the approach is superior to the real-world timetable in many indexes. The hybrid approach combines the advantages of the periodic model and the aperiodic model; it can deal with the travel demands of passengers well and the solving speed is fast. It provides the possibility for flexible adjustment of a timetable and timely response to the change of passenger travel demands, to avoid the waste of transportation resources and achieve sustainable development.

Keywords: train timetable; high-speed railway (HSR); long-distance; service plan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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