Research on Train Formation Plan Optimization in Railway Network Based on Branch-and-Price Algorithm

Abstract

Freight train formation plan is the basic technical document of railway freight transport organization, it decides the efficiency of railway freight transport. In this paper, we introduce the train formation plan optimization problem in railway network. Then we propose the 0–1 integrated optimization model with the object function to minimize the sum of accumulation time, running time and transit time. According to the characteristics of the model, an improved solution algorithm is designed based on the Branch-and-Price algorithm. The algorithm is programmed in C# language to solve the model. Finally, the computation results on a case study of simplified China's railway network with 14 large marshalling stations demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed optimization method, which shows the application on the actual railway engineering industry.