Phase synchronization in railway timetables

C. Fretter (), L. Krumov, K. Weihe, M. Müller-Hannemann and M.-T. Hütt

The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, 2010, vol. 77, issue 2, 281-289

Abstract: Timetable construction belongs to the most important optimization problems in public transport. Finding optimal or near-optimal timetables under the subsidiary conditions of minimizing travel times and other criteria is a targeted contribution to the functioning of public transport. In addition to efficiency (given, e.g., by minimal average travel times), a significant feature of a timetable is its robustness against delay propagation. Here we study the balance of efficiency and robustness in long-distance railway timetables (in particular the current long-distance railway timetable in Germany) from the perspective of synchronization, exploiting the fact that a major part of the trains run nearly periodically. We find that synchronization is highest at intermediate-sized stations. We argue that this synchronization perspective opens a new avenue towards an understanding of railway timetables by representing them as spatio-temporal phase patterns. Robustness and efficiency can then be viewed as properties of this phase pattern. Copyright EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1140/epjb/e2010-00234-y

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