Passenger-centric robust timetabling in railways

Abstract

Punctuality in railway transport is a critical concern for passengers, especially during unavoidable disturbances. Therefore, a sufficiently robust timetable is necessary. This thesis proposes a new timetabling method that minimizes passenger delay as the optimization objective, aiming to create a passenger-centric robust timetable. The model is implemented in the Dutch railway network in the Eindhoven-Den Bosch-Tilburg area to verify and validate its correctness and functionality. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model significantly reduces passenger delays when dealing with specific disturbances, and the improvement in robustness becomes more pronounced as the severity of the disturbances increases.