Temporary railway timetables are implemented during periods of disrupted operations, such as planned track closures, and operate under constrained conditions. Temporary timetables lack quantitative methods to assess their overall performance and systematic comparison. This paper introduces an approach to quantify the effectiveness of temporary railway timetables. Timetable effectiveness is defined as the ability of a temporary timetable operating under constrained conditions to maintain operable, stable, and robust train operations under deterministic and stochastic variability. Based on this definition, a multi-criteria evaluation framework is proposed that integrates four performance indices: capacity utilization, stability, robustness, and operability. Existing timetable attributes are reformulated to reflect constrained operating conditions. In addition, a new timetable attribute, operability, is introduced to capture the executability of infeasible timetables. The framework aggregates the indices into a single Temporary Timetable Effectiveness (𝑇𝑇𝐸) indicator. The proposed methodology is demonstrated through a real-world case study of a planned track closure on the Dutch railway network. Multiple temporary timetables are quantified and compared using microscopic simulation. The results show that the framework is capable of distinguishing both marginal and substantial differences between alternative timetable designs and making trade-offs between performance indices explicit. The proposed framework provides a systematic quantitative assessment and comparison of temporary railway timetables.
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Railways are a safe and efficient transport mode, with safety ensured by signalling systems and efficiency maintained by traffic management. This thesis proposes models to support the effective management of real-time railway operations under next-generation, radio-based distance-to-go signalling. It provides insights valuable to both the scientific community and the railway industry, supporting the future implementation of such signalling systems and contributing to the continued development of railways as a safe and efficient mode of transport. ... Read more

Railway operations require alignment between event-time-based timetables and speed-based train trajectories to enable effective interaction between traffic management and train operation across planning levels and real-time control. To support this alignment, this dissertation reviews standardisation activities and develops optimisation methods for Train Path Envelopes and event time flexibility. The proposed approaches support conflict-free operations, improve punctuality and energy efficiency, and provide insights for both academic research and railway practice. ... Read more

This study presents a comparative analysis of the three train-bus timetable synchronisation approaches in order to improve the performance and attractiveness of integrated public transport networks in rural areas. While the existing literature mainly focuses on synchronisation approaches separately, limited attention has been given to comparing the different synchronisation approaches, with the incorporation of passenger demand. To address this gap, this research develops a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model to compare the three synchronisation approaches: train-first, bus-first, and simultaneous synchronisation. Applied to a rural public transport network in Friesland, the model minimises total passenger travel time weighted by passenger demand. The case study, consisting of one train line and thirteen connecting bus services, provides a manageable evaluation of the model. The results show that simultaneous synchronisation consistently outperforms the sequential approaches, achieving the lowest total passenger waiting time for most operating hours and service lines. Comparing the simultaneous synchronisation approach to the current timetable shows significant improvements in total passenger waiting time across all operating hours and for most of the lines. A mode choice analysis using a Multinomial Logit (MNL) model shows an increase in ridership based on the improved timetable, which facilitates a modal shift from private car to public transport. These findings show that timetable synchronisation alone, without improving infrastructure or the addition of more services, can increase the attractiveness of the public transport network. These findings are especially important in rural areas where car dependency is typically higher. The results suggest that transport authorities should reconsider the current sequential timetable synchronisation practices. Optimisation of multimodal networks simultaneously can improve the performance and attractiveness of integrated public transport networks in rural areas. ... Read more

In the upcoming years more train passengers are expected and with more trains on the tracks railway systems require greater resilience. Switches can play a major role during disruptions as they enable trains to be rerouted onto other tracks, allowing them to bypass the disruption but switches also facilitate overtaking, meet-pass operations at stations as well as diverging and merging at junctions. Since switches consist of numerous parts and the fact these are moving infrastructure elements they are subject to failure itself. Maintenance is expensive and ProRail, the Dutch infrastructure manager, only has a limited budget from the government and if certain switches are only used during disruptions it sounds logical to remove those switches. With on average 50 disruptions per day in the Netherlands with both small and huge impact, it is important to get insights into the relationship between resilience and the location of the switches.

In this thesis a model is constructed that evaluates the impact of a set of disruption scenarios on different switch configurations. Four key performance indicators are found in literature that can measure resilience quantitatively: costs (number of switches), rate of cancelled services, punctuality and time to recover. In interviews with rail experts, weightings for the four KPIs are derived which are used to calculate a score for all disruption scenarios and infrastructure layouts. A trade-off between costs and resilience is made in order to find the optimal switch configuration for a double track and four track layout which provides the highest capacity during disruptions. The set of disruptions including cause, location and duration come from an extensive analysis of disruption events of the past 6.5 years in the Netherlands.

Currently, NS is cancelling many trains since NS is examined on punctuality and not on the number of trains. This research aims to cancel as few trains as possible which is also examined in a case study where the model is validated. The Dutch railway line Utrecht Centraal – Arnhem Centraal appears to have a weak spot and by proposing new switch location configurations on a part of this line the score increased, despite the fact that more switches have been included in the proposed solution. Since the big renovation, 108 switches in Utrecht Centraal were removed by ProRail which improved punctuality, capacity and speed but decreased the flexibility: a disruption between Utrecht and Arnhem (or Eindhoven) currently has a lot of impact on the train service between Amsterdam and Utrecht, because short turning options in Utrecht are rare. This means that trains are now being cancelled completely or short turn already in Amsterdam. By using smart options with new rerouting strategies, capacity between Amsterdam and Utrecht can be kept high with the proposed solution during a disruption between Utrecht and Arnhem or Eindhoven. ... Read more

Railways are increasingly investing in their infrastructure to achieve sustainability objectives and meet expected growth in demand for rail transport services. Since building new physical infrastructure requires large-scale investments and long lead times, many infrastructure managers (IMs) are prioritizing upgrades to their signalling systems to optimize use of their existing networks. By migrating from legacy multi-aspect to distance-to-go (DTG) signalling, IMs gain the ability to safely run trains closer together, better manage disruptions occurring in normal operations, and implement other compatible technologies that can increase capacity and enhance service.
The key advantages of DTG systems are derived from their ability to provide more precise brake and speed supervision relative to multi-aspect signalling. Existing multi-aspect signalling systems rely on lineside signals to display braking indications to trains and do not consider train braking capabilities when determining the minimum separation between trains. As a result, minimum train separation is based on the worst-case braking distance of any train that could operate on the line. In contrast, brake supervision in DTG signalling systems is performed by the train’s onboard computer which calculates a train’s braking distance based on that specific train’s current speed and braking capability. The ability to determine braking distance based on a train’s own characteristics allows more delayed braking relative to multi-aspect signalling. Moreover, migrating the brake supervision from track to train eliminates the need for lineside signalling and related restrictions on block lengths, thereby permitting layouts with shorter blocks than would otherwise be possible with multi-aspect signalling.
To further increase network capacity, IMs are also looking to implement Connected Driver Advisory Systems (C-DAS) and Automatic Train Operation (ATO) systems. These systems permit greater coordination of train paths at the operational level through the provision of timing windows to trains (referred to as a Train Path Envelope or TPE) in real time. This timing information, in turn, helps trains avoid conflicts at the operational level when recovering from small departure delays at stations.
In practice, the benefits of DTG signalling and C-DAS/ATO systems can best be realized if timetabling algorithms consider the actual capabilities of those digital technologies to operate trains closer together in regular operations. It is therefore necessary to align tactical and operational scheduling rules, and to update train planning rules to reflect the capabilities of DTG signalling and C-DAS/ATO systems. However, state-of-the-art-methods for tactical scheduling could result in suboptimal network use as they do not accurately represent operational processes occurring on the railway network, and rely on different levels of detail than those used for real-time traffic management. Furthermore, the abstraction of signalling constraints at the tactical level necessitates additional and more detailed assessments using microscopic methods to achieve a target service plan and timetable feasibility.
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The Dutch railway network is a dense network with 7000 kilometers of railway tracks spread over only 42,000 square kilometers [1, 2]. Additionally, the railways are responsible for 1.4 million passengers every working day [1]. These factors make both the infrastructure and timetable of the Dutch railway network extremely intricate. On top of that, the number of train trips is expected to grow by 40% by 2040 [3], and with that the complexity of managing the railway network will increase even more.

In the case of conflicts in the timetable, action must be taken to resolve these conflicts in order for train operations to continue. In current Dutch practice, this task resides with train dispatchers. However, it can be difficult for the dispatcher to oversee the situation when multiple trains are involved, and actions taken will have consequences for other trains. This increasingly complex task has resulted in growing interest in so-called Traffic Management Systems (TMS), which are intelligent systems that use conflict resolution algorithms to find solutions to timetable conflicts.

A TMS can be used to support train dispatchers in managing railway traffic. ... Read more

To help maximize utilization of its existing infrastructure, the railway industry requires train service optimization models with headway constraints for state-of-the-art distance-to-go signalling systems. To this end, this paper introduces an approach for assessing train path feasibility in ETCS Level 2, Moving Block, and Virtual Coupling, that could be used to construct alternative graphs for timetable optimization. The methodology is the first for distance-to-go signalling systems that accounts for the impact of train acceleration and braking on the braking curve, guaranteeing a feasible and optimal timetable. The alternative graph models are specifically adapted to the train and signalling systems used, with the models for Moving Block and Virtual Coupling being the first with continuous representation of open track. The methodology is used to assess the capacity of Virtual Coupling and Moving Block, respectively, on the South West Main Line in the United Kingdom. The results show that Virtual Coupling can increase railway capacity compared to plain Moving Block, but this may depend on network topology. ... Read more

Public transport is important for society, it provides accessibility to opportunities. Accessibility is not distributed evenly. Some inhabitants are disadvantaged, which has negative impacts on society. The distribution of accessibility between inhabitants can be measured with transport equity. The PT network should be improved in order to reduce the disadvantage of inhabitant groups. It is not defined how this could be done for regional PT networks. A six step assessment methodology is created for this purpose. The assessment method addresses what objective focus should be applied to, what improvements are possible in PT networks, what measures should be applied and what the equity effects of these measures are. Application of the assessment method yields that substantial equity improvements are possible within the Alkmaar – Den Helder railway corridor. Marginal equity improvements are achieved by changing rolling stock, significant improvements with local doubling of single track and substantial improvements when additional stations are opened. The assessment methodology is also able to identify the presence of trade-offs between inhabitants by mutual comparison. ... Read more

The impact of delays and disturbances in railway traffic can be mitigated by advanced rail traffic rescheduling models (RTRMs) which make use of mathematical optimization models. In the past several researches have been carried out on the effectiveness of an RTRM in reducing delay and improving punctuality. However, in most of these researches only one case study is used to test the RTRM. Still, it is unclear whether the results found for the application of an RTRM in one particular situation, are also valid for other situations (with different infrastructural and operational characteristics).
With this research, the impact of different infrastructure layouts and traffic patterns on the effectiveness of rail traffic rescheduling models is investigated. It provides insight into whether the benefit of an RTRM depends on the infrastructure and timetable in the area where it is applied.
For this purpose, an evaluation framework has been developed in which an RTRM can be tested using different infrastructure, operational and disturbance scenarios. In this framework, the RTRM is used to generate a real-time traffic plan for each scenario. These traffic plans are compared with the traffic plans of simple dispatching rules, that can be used in practice by dispatchers. For this comparison, KPIs such as the sum of consecutive delay (amount of delay that propagates within the network) and punctuality are used. This framework is applied to an alternative graph-based RTRM, which is formulated as a MILP (mixed integer linear programming).
The results show that the improvement an RTRM can offer over simple dispatching rules, varies per infrastructure layout and traffic pattern. For some infrastructure and operational scenarios, the simple dispatching rules perform as well as the RTRM, which means that for these situations, implementing an advanced RTRM does have much added value. A trend has been observed that the effectiveness of the RTRM increases as more control options are available. ... Read more

As the demand for the railways is expected to raise in the future, researchers are looking for ways to improve the railway capacity to increase the transport ability. Virtual coupling is a new solution based on the moving block technology, which further shortens train separation from absolute braking distance to relative braking distance. This will also affect the train service schedules for optimal operation under virtual coupling. In this study, a mixed integer quadratic programming method has been proposed to schedule the train services under virtual coupling on a network. Train operation as well as the headway and capacity benefit have been analyzed. In comparison to moving block, virtual coupling will change train operation on shared routes, and the capacity will be improved by different percentages for different timetable patterns and different service braking rates with or without speed limit restrictions.
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Railway networks are to play an increasingly large role in European transportation. This has boosted the urgency of railway innovations, of which the development of decision support systems for conflict resolution is an important aspect. This research contributes to this development by formulating a suitable mathematical approach for railway networks equipped with moving block signalling systems. Two dispatching actions to reschedule trains are applied, namely retiming and reordering. The designed approach is an extension to an existing method, based on graph theory, that is able to reschedule trains in case of conflict. The novel method uses additional node- and arc types in order to ensure moving block suitability. The new node type enables the possibility to create nodes that are related to trains, rather than infrastructure. The new arc type ensures a continuously safe time interval between two trains in the absence of trackside signals. An optimization problem, with the objective of minimizing the maximum propagated delay, is formulated. Hereafter, the performance is evaluated by a case study in the Rotterdam-The Hague corridor. According to the experimental results, the designed model is able to reduce delay propagation up to 50% for the majority of input situations within 10 seconds of computation time. Overall, the designed method shows promising results, but further research will be necessary to make it applicable in practice. ... Read more

The number of operational rail corridors equipped with ERTMS is increasing throughout Europe. The implementation of this critical safety system is planned to take several decades. However, ERTMS is a complex system that evolves continuously increasing the risk of using outdated parts and components. Therefore, adaptability is required for an efficient process. Adaptability is the ability of a system to meet technological or functional changes without requiring structural modifications or replacements. This paper identifies factors that influence adaptability and researches critical issues for future adaptability of ERTMS. With these factors and issues, solutions are proposed that are validated in a use case and integrated in a strategy that strengthens adaptability of ERTMS for future operational needs. The main takeaways of this strategy is the need for technical modularity and a balanced stakeholder involvement in the implementation process. ... Read more

Block signalling and Automatic Train Protection are two of the main railway safety systems to control the risk of train accidents. The combination of the existing Dutch block signalling system NS’54 and ATP-system ATB-EG is functioning well, but has some drawbacks. The systems have been designed over 60 years ago with proven technology of that time. Components are old and will have to be replaced in the near future. The safety functionality of the legacy systems is limited. Moreover, the capacity of the Dutch railway network with NS’54/ATB-EG is almost fully used while demand grows. Solutions are required to match the demand growth. The European Rail Traffic Managements System (ERTMS) is proposed to be the new standard European safety system. Train control is included in the European Train Control System (ETCS). It offers benefits in the form of interoperability, increased safety, speed, capacity and/or reliability over the national system. ERTMS/ETCS Hybrid Level 3 is an integrated cab-signalling and train protection system that combines train position information, onboard train integrity confirmation and trackside train detection. Compared to the legacy system NS'54/ATB-EG and the proposed system ERTMS/ETCS Level 2 it offers more railway capacity and allows for a reduction in trackside train detection. This thesis shows that the infrastructure occupation can drop from 84% to 66,7% when implementing ERTMS/ETCS Hybrid Level 3. Reducing the amount of trackside train detection to the minimum and transitioning from track circuits to axle counters can result in a decrease of track unavailability related to train protection systems of over 40% compared to the existing configuration. ... Read more

Seven disrupted scenarios have been simulated on the railway corridor Utrecht-Den Bosch, each over three signalling configurations to find the effect of in-cab signalling and reduced block section lengths on resilience. Furthermore, the place of resilience in decision making and design of railway signalling has been investigated. Although resilience is only one of the factors in the decision making and design of ETCS-projects, besides factors such as capacity, safety and interoperability, a quantification of resilience can help to either compare alternatives on all factors including resilience, to compare alternatives on resilience only, or to find the relation between design choices and resilience. Simulation of seven disrupted traffic scenarios has shown that using in-cab signalling with ETCS L2 compared to line-side signalling with NS'54/ATB has saved 10% of the delay in the scenarios on average. By using reduced block sections lengths in combination with in-cab signalling, 20% of the delay has been saved on average. For absolute resilience, short block sections should be placed along the whole track. As this is not realistic from cost perspective, decreased block sections are in each case advised nearby yards and switches. ... Read more

Railways are facing the challenge to simultaneously increase the capacity and the operational performance of their network. Automatic train operation (ATO) can be one of the technologies to increase the capacity of the railway network. The specifications for ATO over the European Train Control System (ETCS) automatic train protection system have been defined. However, testing is taking place over legacy automatic train protection systems , such as ATBNG, as well. ATO requires information from the automatic train protection system. The goal of this master thesis is to determine the data gap between ETCS and ATBNG in relation to ATO. First a generic ATO model is developed from literature. This model presents the information required and produced by ATO. The model is used as a framework for the analysis of ATO over ETCS and ATO over ATBNG. This analysis resulted in a conceptual model of both ATO over ETCS and ATO over ATBNG. The conceptual model shows that ATBNG can provide the required information if the ATBNG operational envelope is used as the relevant safety envelope. However, currently the operational envelope of the NS’54 signalling system is the relevant safety envelope. Additional information is required to allow ATO to determine the NS’54 operational envelope. Furthermore, ATBNG is not capable of presenting ATO information to the train driver. A new ATO DMI is required. Moreover, the ProRail traffic management system is not yet capable of providing ATO with the required information for both ATO over ETCS and ATO over ATBNG. To validate the conceptual ATO over ATBNG model three case studies have been worked out. The study performed for this master thesis is an exploratory study, therefore validation of the findings and assumptions is required. ... Read more