Railway Operations: Issues and Objectives Capacity management

Infrastructure planning

Timetable preparation

Management of day-to-day movement of trains.

Objectives of the SimulatorObserving effects of making changes to the existing timetable

Estimating section capacity

Analyzing the effect of introducing extra scheduled trains in the section

Objectives of the Simulator

Visualizing the consequences of signal failure and delays of trains.

To model and represent different arrival patterns and compositions of traffic on section.

Evaluating investment proposals at local level

Objectives of the SimulatorTo present the impact of changed operational parameters such asSpeed of trains Acceleration/DecelerationLoop entry/exit velocities

To experiment with different scheduling possibilities based on -ThroughputDelaysPrioritiesDue dates latenessSlack in timetables.

Capacity PlanningLine /Section Capacity:Number of (standardised) trains that can be run on a given section

Estimated byScotts FormulaMaster chart preparation

This can be done only for a static, known traffic scenario

Current notion of capacityThe number of trains that can be handled with reasonable transit time (say, twice the bareminimum transit time).

This accounts for the prevailing traffic mixand congestion effects.

SoftwareUses Java 2 as development platform.User specified data files are read and station and blocks are modeled accordinglyTrains are sorted in the order of their prioritiesRuns in one train at a time orcomplete simulation modes

Inputs

Station detailsLoop detailsBlock detailsScheduled trains data Freight train dataSimulation parameter dataGradient specification dataGradients effect detailsSignal failure detailsDelay specification data In MS Excel or ASCII Text format

OutputLoop /platform occupanciesBlock occupanciesTraversal time of trains (timetabled passenger as well as non-timetabled freight trains); Averages of such timesPlot of distance vs. time in the master chart formatVelocity profile and signal aspect displaysSignal headway

Algorithm

Yes

No

Stop

Is any train left

Sort signals, prohibited intervals, set signal failure

Schedule a train

Get Train from sorted list

Set signal failure

Sort Trains by Priority

Initialize all signals green, all sections Free

Read The Data

Start

Departure Time Based Priority Scheduling of Passenger TrainsThe train with higher priority is scheduled first

If two trains have the same priority

Compared for their departure times, for scheduled passenger trainsCompared for their arrival times, for freight trains

Passenger train with earliest departure or freight train with earliest arrival time is scheduled first

Preference Based Resource Allocation for Passenger Trains Exploring other possible alternate paths through the station if the preferred loop is not available by passenger train

Ensures a much efficient use of available resources to facilitate a smooth passage past the section.

Simulation Output without searching alternate paths

Simulation Output with searching alternate paths

Signal Spacing and Headway Analysis on Suburban sectionsSupports automatic signaling on mainline sections and relevant track and train detail in operation.

Study for Central Railway on signal spacing and headway analysis.