Richard Schaeffer , Daria Ivina , Gemma Nicholson , Paul Plummer , Sergeĭ Sergeev
{"title":"A bilevel programming and bargaining game approach to negotiations regarding time on track for railway maintenance","authors":"Richard Schaeffer , Daria Ivina , Gemma Nicholson , Paul Plummer , Sergeĭ Sergeev","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100552","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100552","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Railway maintenance scheduling requires rigorous planning to ensure harmony between the agents involved. The roles of these agents can vary from country to country; however, the infrastructure manager usually oversees the railway operations and controls access to the railway network for maintenance measures. Trackwork requires time free from train traffic — therefore, this will be the main discussion point of this paper. In particular, the negotiations between infrastructure managers and maintenance undertakers regarding time on track in the capacity allocation process. Irrationality in negotiations for time on track is a consequence of the aims and responsibilities of each agent, as well as imbalance of leverage. This paper models the scenario as a Stackelberg game and solves the problem using methods from bilevel optimisation. The model considers factors that affect leverage, such as the urgency of the works and quality of other available options - e.g. outside parties that may be able to provide a better deal, known as the Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. The results from a worked example using synthetic data provide evidence that there is a significant surplus of utility being left on the table due to non-cooperation between agents, and corrective rather than preventative maintenance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100552"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Junduo Zhao , Haiying Li , Lingyun Meng , Xiaojie Luan , Andrea D'Ariano
{"title":"Train rescheduling with consideration of passenger reservicing during severe disruptions","authors":"Junduo Zhao , Haiying Li , Lingyun Meng , Xiaojie Luan , Andrea D'Ariano","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100551","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100551","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Train dispatching is critical for ensuring the punctuality and reliability in passenger transportation, especially in railway systems with a seat reservation mechanism, such as that in China. In the presence of a disruption, e.g., a 4-h segment blockage, passengers holding reservations on disrupted trains face significant travel plan alterations. As the flexibility for these stranded passengers to self-shift to alternative travel times and/or modes is often limited with pre-booked tickets and infrequent services, they are very likely to wait for their reserved trains for a long time, causing negative consequences on passenger satisfaction. In this study, we propose a method to address this rescheduling problem from the perspective of passenger reservicing. Measures of adding extra stops and inserting extra trains are conditionally used with the limitation of an effective time window (<em>ETW</em>), alongside retiming, reordering, and local-rerouting, to offer alternative travel options for stranded passengers, enabling them to reach their destinations with minimal delays. To accurately capture the limitation of <em>ETW</em>, we reconstructed the space-time network by introducing an alternative arc set, followed by formulating an ILP model. This NP-hard problem is then solved using a Lagrangian relaxation solution method, which integrates a decomposition approach, a label correcting algorithm, and a heuristic algorithm. We also conduct computational experiments on the Chinese high-speed railway network to validate the feasibility, effectiveness, and efficiency of our proposed method, and perform experimental analysis to help dispatchers to make more informed decisions in daily operations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100551"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimal driving strategies for trains on level track with bounds on energy consumption during specified intermediate time intervals","authors":"Phil Howlett, Maria Kapsis, Peter Pudney","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100550","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100550","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In order to manage electricity transmission and distribution it is now common practice for system operators to offer financial incentives that encourage large consumers to reduce energy usage during designated peak demand periods. For train operators on large rail networks it may be profitable—with selected individual journeys—to reduce energy usage during peak times and increase energy usage at other times rather than simply minimizing overall energy consumption. The desired reduction in energy usage on some intermediate time interval can often be achieved if the overall optimal driving speed is increased but the usual <em>speedhold</em> segment is interrupted by a segment of <em>coast–speedhold–maximum acceleration</em> with a lower optimal driving speed on the designated interval. In Howlett et al. (2023) it was shown that an interruption of this type is optimal if and only if the <em>coast</em> phase begins at the entry time to the designated interval and the <em>acceleration</em> phase begins at the exit time. In this paper we show that the above strategy is a suboptimal strategy and that the true optimal restricted strategy is one where the usual <em>speedhold</em> phase is interrupted by a segment of <em>maximum acceleration–coast–speedhold–coast–maximum acceleration</em>. The initial phase for this segment ends at the entry time to the designated interval and the final phase begins at the exit time. We will also extend the new strategy to find optimal restricted strategies for problems with energy consumption constraints on multiple predetermined intermediate time intervals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100550"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145220118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Enhancing railway corridor governance: Cooperative game model","authors":"Miroslav Prokić , Branislav Bošković","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100549","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100549","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite the EU's efforts to enhance the competitiveness of rail freight transport, the lack of coordination and cooperation among governments and infrastructure managers remains a significant barrier. Rail freight corridors, serving as critical arteries for transnational trade and economic integration, are particularly vital for strengthening rail's competitive position in European transport market. This paper proposes the application of cooperative game theory to address the coordination challenges among stakeholders within rail freight corridors. A cooperative game model is developed to evaluate the potential for improving corridor governance through the formation of coalitions among the involved countries. In addition to the Shapley value we introduce two novel allocation rules, termed the proportional rule and the adjusted proportional rule, which are specifically designed to address the railway freight corridor problem by linking allocation of coalition worth to countries' contributions to improving corridor competitiveness. The results of the model suggest that forming coalitions around shared objectives within the cooperative game framework significantly increases the revenues of infrastructure managers and ensures a fairer distribution of the coalition's worth among the participating countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100549"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145095969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimization method for maximizing capacity utilization of high-speed railway train timetable based on node routing model","authors":"Yukun Gu, Yuguang Wei, Yang Xia","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100548","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100548","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increasing passenger demand on certain high-speed railway lines has resulted in strained capacity utilization, posing a challenge for railway operators to optimize train timetables to maximize capacity utilization. This paper investigates the impact of train path sequences on section carrying capacity, as well as how train paths utilize time-space resources of train timetables. The problem of scheduling train timetables is transformed into the problem of node routing, where nodes represent train paths, directed arcs depict the sequential connections between train paths. A train timetable optimization model based on node routing is constructed, with the objective of maximizing the number of trains and the constraint that the total arc weight does not exceed total amount of time-space resources on the train timetable. Then considering the characteristics of the model, this paper designs an optimization algorithm for train timetables, which includes modules for designing train overtaking combinations, quantifying time-space resources, optimizing train path sequences, and scheduling train timetables. The algorithm is tested on the Shanghai-Hangzhou High-speed Railway in China. The computational results prove that the optimization method based on node routing can help railway operators improve the capacity utilization level of high-speed railways. Further, we design a series of experiments to study the impact of train headway times, train running speed, and other factors on the section carrying capacity, reveal the impact mechanisms of these train timetable factors on section carrying capacity, and propose optimization strategies for high-speed train timetables to railway operators.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100548"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145026841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Assessment of passenger management strategies within major railway terminals","authors":"Nattanon Luangboriboon , Marcella Samà , Andrea D’Ariano , Taku Fujiyama","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100540","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100540","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper addresses the problem of passenger flow management in major public transport terminals by proposing a new modeling approach for passenger flows management. Currently, passenger management is done based on the experience of station managers, while existing models generally view the passenger flows as continuous. In contrast, this research proposes modeling the flows of passengers as discrete, according to the behavior of passengers in major transport terminals with non-fixed platform allocation. The problem is modeled as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) inspired by the alternative graph (AG) model. The case study results show that the model can be used to assess and compare passenger management strategies, for instance, the morning peak case study results show that 578 s of conflict which occur in one strategy can be traded off with 78 s of total tardiness by applying a different strategy. This model can be used to support station managers in assessing complex situations before making management decisions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100540"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145026842","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimizing weekly maintenance schedules for mass rapid transit facilities","authors":"Shangyao Yan, Chun-Yi Wang, Tzu-Hao Yan","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100537","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100537","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To ensure the smooth operation of the MRT system, efficient resource utilization for effective facility maintenance is crucial. Currently, engineers in Taiwan rely on past records and personal knowledge to schedule maintenance, which is inefficient and leads to higher costs. To address this challenge, a systematic weekly maintenance model has been developed, tailored to the needs of local MRT companies. This model takes into account preventive maintenance, repair needs, and workforce constraints, with the aim of minimizing total maintenance costs. Formulated as a challenging integer network flow problem with side constraints, the model utilizes a heuristic algorithm to efficiently solve complex scenarios. Initial results from a case study show promise, suggesting that this model and solution algorithm can be valuable tools for MRT companies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100537"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144917000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A queueing-based approach for timetable-independent railway station performance analysis","authors":"Tamme Emunds, Nils Nießen","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100539","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100539","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Railway stations serve as critical nodes within railway networks, facilitating connections across diverse travel directions. Traditionally, the analytical performance analysis of railway stations has been divided into two distinct components: the examination of stopping tracks and the evaluation of route nodes, the locations within a station where switches determine the direction of travel. This study introduces an innovative Continuous-Time Markov Chain model that represents a comprehensive queueing system encompassing the entire railway station. By deriving timetable-independent performance indicators, this model provides a robust framework for assessing station performance. Consequently, it equips infrastructure operators with a holistic tool for infrastructure planning and evaluation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100539"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144878958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Renate J.H. van der Knaap, Niels van Oort, Rob M.P. Goverde
{"title":"Multi-period railway timetabling to serve time-dependent demand","authors":"Renate J.H. van der Knaap, Niels van Oort, Rob M.P. Goverde","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100536","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100536","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Passenger railway demand fluctuates daily, peaking at the start and end of the workday due to commuting to school and work. During the off-peak the volumes drop and most people travel for other purposes, like leisure and social visits, which results in different travel destinations. Despite this, many European Railways use fixed line plans and cyclic timetables that remain constant throughout the day. While this approach makes schedules easy to remember and provides ample off-peak travel options, it is primarily designed for peak-hour demand, making it less efficient for the off-peak. Furthermore, due to the different mix of travel purposes, a schedule based on peak-hour demand is not necessarily optimal for off-peak demand. This paper aims to combine the benefits of a cyclic timetable with the flexibility of an acyclic timetable in order to follow the time-dependent demand more closely. We propose a mixed-integer linear programming model that finds a timetable for a day consisting of several periods which each have its own line plan. The resulting timetable is required to be cyclic within each period and provide a good transition between the periods. The model is successfully tested on a case study with changing stopping patterns using data from the Dutch railway network, for which an optimal timetable is found. In this timetable, the transition between cyclic schedules can be done without cancelling trains or shifting trains from the new cyclic times.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"35 ","pages":"Article 100536"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144865415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Train dwell time models for crowded metro stations using a bivariate distribution function","authors":"Natchaya Tortainchai , Taku Fujiyama","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100538","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2025.100538","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Train dwell times at high-passenger-volume stations are complex and inconsistent due to variations in passenger behaviour and interactions. While several studies have examined factors affecting dwell time and developed models to predict it, these models often struggle to accurately predict dwell times under high passenger volume conditions. This poses significant challenges to planning effective timetables in crowded environments. Given this variability, using probability-based approaches to predict dwell time delay could provide better planning. Although some studies have identified dwell time probability distribution functions, they generally do not include passenger volume level as a variable, limiting their applicability in high-density stations.</div><div>This paper investigates actual operational data to present the limitations of predicting dwell times at high-passenger-volume stations. To address the gap, this paper proposes a bivariate probability function that incorporates passenger volume as a key variable. This gives us a more reliable framework for predicting dwell time delays in crowded environments. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test is used to validate the bivariate dwell time function. This shows the function's capability to predict the probability of achieving target dwell times, which is essential for planning dwell times. Furthermore, this model can be applied alongside delay impact assessments, facilitating a further risk evaluation framework that can be used to make more informed decisions when setting dwell times in timetables.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"35 ","pages":"Article 100538"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144858021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}