Assessment of alternative line plans for severe winter conditions in the Netherlands

Abstract

Winter weather has a major impact on railway operations in the Netherlands. To stay in control, the number of trains is reduced by 20% in a special “winter timetable”. This results in a more controllable network, but an insufficient amount of transport capacity. Adapting the line plan can result in more transport capacity without losing controllability. This paper therefore focuses on the performance of a line plan under extreme weather conditions. We define several criteria to assess the performance of the line plan in terms of controllability and transport capacity. A case study has been conducted on the railway network in the Netherlands, which indicates that all alternatives are more controllable and yield more transport capacity than the current winter timetable.