Expansion of Canadian National Railway’s Line Capacity

Norma Welch and James Gussow
Additional contact information
Norma Welch: Operations Research, CN Rail, PO Box 8100, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3N4
James Gussow: Transportation Planning, CN Rail

Interfaces, 1986, vol. 16, issue 1, 51-64

Abstract: In the late 1970s, traffic volumes over the next decade were predicted to double on Canadian National Railway’s already congested single track main line. As part of a plant expansion program, a transportation planning research team developed two “what-if” simulation models to evaluate the relative effect of the many factors influencing main line capacity. When used together, they predict train delay under various track and signal designs, operating methods, and traffic scenarios. We then proposed a package of cost-effective improvements for capacity expansion, which included closely spaced intermediate signals and strategically located sections of double track. These improvements, together with the application of the simulation models to plant design, have enabled CN to defer capital expenditures of over C$350 million beyond the 1980s.

Keywords: transportation: rail; simulation: applications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1986
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/inte.16.1.51 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orinte:v:16:y:1986:i:1:p:51-64

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Interfaces from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().