A three-level framework for performance-based railway timetabling

• Published in: Transportation research. Part C, Emerging technologies Vol. 67; pp. 62 - 83
• Main Authors: Goverde, Rob M.P., Bešinović, Nikola, Binder, Anne, Cacchiani, Valentina, Quaglietta, Egidio, Roberti, Roberto, Toth, Paolo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier India Pvt Ltd 01.06.2016
• Subjects: Energy efficiency; Journeys; Micro–macro; Occupation; Railway engineering; Railway timetabling; Railways; Robustness; Stability; Timetables; Transportation; Transportation corridors; Transportation networks; Robustness; Micro–macro; Energy efficiency; Stability; Railway timetabling
• ISSN: 0968-090X; 1879-2359
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trc.2016.02.004

•We propose to integrate timetable construction and evaluation at three levels.•We describe a modular three-level performance-based railway timetabling framework.•We consider feasibility, stability, robustness, efficiency, and energy consumption.•We combine micro–macro timetabling with energy-efficient trajectory optimization.•A real-life case-study on a Dutch railway network demonstrates the approach. The performance of railway operations depends highly on the quality of the railway timetable. In particular for dense railway networks it can be challenging to obtain a stable robust conflict-free and energy-efficient timetable with acceptable infrastructure occupation and short journey times. This paper presents a performance-based railway timetabling framework integrating timetable construction and evaluation on three levels: microscopic, macroscopic, and a corridor fine-tuning level, where each performance indicator is optimized or evaluated at the appropriate level. A modular implementation of the three-level framework is presented and demonstrated on a case study on the Dutch railway network illustrating the feasibility of this approach to achieve the highest timetabling design level.