Routing Trains Through Railway Stations: Model Formulation and Algorithms

Peter J. Zwaneveld, Leo G. Kroon, H. Edwin Romeijn, Marc Salomon, Stéphane Dauzère-Pérès, Stan P. M. Van Hoesel and Harrie W. Ambergen
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Peter J. Zwaneveld: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Leo G. Kroon: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
H. Edwin Romeijn: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Marc Salomon: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Stéphane Dauzère-Pérès: Department of Automatic Control and Production Engineering, Ecole des Mines de Nantes, Nantes, France
Stan P. M. Van Hoesel: Department of Quantitative Economics, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Harrie W. Ambergen: Railned, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Transportation Science, 1996, vol. 30, issue 3, 181-194

Abstract: In this paper we consider the problem of routing trains through railway stations. This problem occurs as a subproblem in a project which the authors are carrying out in cooperation with the Dutch railways. The project involves the analysis of future infrastructural capacity requirements in the Dutch railway network. Part of this project is the automatic generation and evaluation of timetables. To generate a timetable a hierarchical approach is followed: at the upper level in the hierarchy a tentative timetable is generated, taking into account the specific scheduling problems of the trains at the railway stations at an aggregate level. At the lower level in the hierarchy it is checked whether the tentative timetable is feasible with respect to the safety rules and the connection requirements at the stations. To carry out this consistency check, detailed schedules for the trains at the railway yards have to be generated. In this paper we present a mathematical model formulation for this detailed scheduling problem, based on the Node Packing Problem (NPP). Furthermore, we describe a solution procedure for the problem, based on a branch-and-cut approach. The approach is tested in an empirical study with data from the station of Zwolle in The Netherlands.

Date: 1996
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