IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transb/v126y2019icp192-212.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A combined simulation-optimization approach for minimizing travel time and delays in railway timetables

Author

Listed:
  • Högdahl, Johan
  • Bohlin, Markus
  • Fröidh, Oskar

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%.

Suggested Citation

  • Högdahl, Johan & Bohlin, Markus & Fröidh, Oskar, 2019. "A combined simulation-optimization approach for minimizing travel time and delays in railway timetables," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 192-212.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:126:y:2019:i:c:p:192-212
    DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2019.04.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191261518304971
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.trb.2019.04.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carrion, Carlos & Levinson, David, 2012. "Value of travel time reliability: A review of current evidence," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 720-741.
    2. Valentina Cacchiani & Alberto Caprara & Matteo Fischetti, 2012. "A Lagrangian Heuristic for Robustness, with an Application to Train Timetabling," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(1), pages 124-133, February.
    3. Lee, Yusin & Lu, Li-Sin & Wu, Mei-Ling & Lin, Dung-Ying, 2017. "Balance of efficiency and robustness in passenger railway timetables," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 142-156.
    4. Sels, P. & Dewilde, T. & Cattrysse, D. & Vansteenwegen, P., 2016. "Reducing the passenger travel time in practice by the automated construction of a robust railway timetable," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 124-156.
    5. Chow, Andy H.F. & Pavlides, Aris, 2018. "Cost functions and multi-objective timetabling of mixed train services," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 335-356.
    6. Kroon, Leo & Maróti, Gábor & Helmrich, Mathijn Retel & Vromans, Michiel & Dekker, Rommert, 2008. "Stochastic improvement of cyclic railway timetables," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 553-570, July.
    7. Jens Parbo & Otto Anker Nielsen & Carlo Giacomo Prato, 2016. "Passenger Perspectives in Railway Timetabling: A Literature Review," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(4), pages 500-526, July.
    8. Cacchiani, Valentina & Toth, Paolo, 2012. "Nominal and robust train timetabling problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(3), pages 727-737.
    9. Matteo Fischetti & Domenico Salvagnin & Arrigo Zanette, 2009. "Fast Approaches to Improve the Robustness of a Railway Timetable," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(3), pages 321-335, August.
    10. Bates, John & Polak, John & Jones, Peter & Cook, Andrew, 0. "The valuation of reliability for personal travel," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 191-229, April.
    11. Chang, Justin S., 2010. "Assessing travel time reliability in transport appraisal," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 419-425.
    12. Jovanović, Predrag & Kecman, Pavle & Bojović, Nebojša & Mandić, Dragomir, 2017. "Optimal allocation of buffer times to increase train schedule robustness," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(1), pages 44-54.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lusby, Richard M. & Larsen, Jesper & Bull, Simon, 2018. "A survey on robustness in railway planning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 266(1), pages 1-15.
    2. Liping Ge & Stefan Voß & Lin Xie, 2022. "Robustness and disturbances in public transport," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 191-261, March.
    3. Schön, Cornelia & König, Eva, 2018. "A stochastic dynamic programming approach for delay management of a single train line," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(2), pages 501-518.
    4. Sparing, Daniel & Goverde, Rob M.P., 2017. "A cycle time optimization model for generating stable periodic railway timetables," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 198-223.
    5. Jovanović, Predrag & Kecman, Pavle & Bojović, Nebojša & Mandić, Dragomir, 2017. "Optimal allocation of buffer times to increase train schedule robustness," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(1), pages 44-54.
    6. Yang, Lixing & Zhou, Xuesong & Gao, Ziyou, 2014. "Credibility-based rescheduling model in a double-track railway network: a fuzzy reliable optimization approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 75-93.
    7. Burggraeve, Sofie & Vansteenwegen, Pieter, 2017. "Robust routing and timetabling in complex railway stations," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 228-244.
    8. Julius Pätzold, 2021. "Finding robust periodic timetables by integrating delay management," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 349-374, June.
    9. Jiateng Yin & Lixing Yang & Xuesong Zhou & Tao Tang & Ziyou Gao, 2019. "Balancing a one‐way corridor capacity and safety‐oriented reliability: A stochastic optimization approach for metro train timetabling," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(4), pages 297-320, June.
    10. Gábor Maróti, 2017. "A branch-and-bound approach for robust railway timetabling," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 73-94, July.
    11. Hassini, Elkafi & Verma, Manish, 2016. "Disruption risk management in railroad networks: An optimization-based methodology and a case studyAuthor-Name: Azad, Nader," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 70-88.
    12. Zhang, Chuntian & Gao, Yuan & Yang, Lixing & Gao, Ziyou & Qi, Jianguo, 2020. "Joint optimization of train scheduling and maintenance planning in a railway network: A heuristic algorithm using Lagrangian relaxation," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 64-92.
    13. Xie, J. & Wong, S.C. & Zhan, S. & Lo, S.M. & Chen, Anthony, 2020. "Train schedule optimization based on schedule-based stochastic passenger assignment," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    14. Sels, P. & Dewilde, T. & Cattrysse, D. & Vansteenwegen, P., 2016. "Reducing the passenger travel time in practice by the automated construction of a robust railway timetable," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 124-156.
    15. Vansteenwegen, Pieter & Dewilde, Thijs & Burggraeve, Sofie & Cattrysse, Dirk, 2016. "An iterative approach for reducing the impact of infrastructure maintenance on the performance of railway systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 252(1), pages 39-53.
    16. Lee, Yusin & Lu, Li-Sin & Wu, Mei-Ling & Lin, Dung-Ying, 2017. "Balance of efficiency and robustness in passenger railway timetables," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 142-156.
    17. Gabrel, Virginie & Murat, Cécile & Thiele, Aurélie, 2014. "Recent advances in robust optimization: An overview," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 235(3), pages 471-483.
    18. Kang, Liujiang & Meng, Qiang, 2017. "Two-phase decomposition method for the last train departure time choice in subway networks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 568-582.
    19. Cacchiani, Valentina & Qi, Jianguo & Yang, Lixing, 2020. "Robust optimization models for integrated train stop planning and timetabling with passenger demand uncertainty," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1-29.
    20. Zhan, Shuguang & Wong, S.C. & Lo, S.M., 2020. "Social equity-based timetabling and ticket pricing for high-speed railways," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 165-186.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:126:y:2019:i:c:p:192-212. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/548/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.