Kenneth Ng, Nirajan Shiwakoti, Peter Stansinopoulos
{"title":"Comprehensive examination of regional railway passenger behavior and dwell time components: Insights from video-based observations in Victoria, Australia","authors":"Kenneth Ng, Nirajan Shiwakoti, Peter Stansinopoulos","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100464","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100464","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In understudied regional railway operations, this study explores passenger boarding and alighting patterns and how station design impacts them, particularly dwell times. Despite extensive metropolitan and suburban train research, regional railways have been overlooked. This study investigates regional rail passenger flow and dwell time to bridge this gap. This article studies dwell times and passenger boarding and alighting at two regional stations in Victoria, Australia, using CCTV data. The objective is to identify insights that might improve regional railway services' efficiency and user experience and advocate for sector-specific solutions. Analysis indicates distinct station boarding and alighting features, highlighting the discovery of the ‘blinded phenomenon’ for train conductors particularly in the afternoon peak (PMP). The results of the study showed that PMP services, which prioritise alighting passengers, had higher dwell times than the morning peak (AMP) services, which emphasise boarding passengers. Obstructed views make it difficult for train conductors to monitor passenger alighting, prolonging dwell times. Better human resource strategies, artificial intelligence for crowd surveillance, and strategic CCTV system deployment to streamline operations and improve passenger experience on regional railways are proposed in the paper, laying the groundwork for future research and operational changes in this vital transportation sector.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 100464"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210970624000349/pdfft?md5=f9ea817fc98c0dbe6e88cdc865703214&pid=1-s2.0-S2210970624000349-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141596034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Katleho R.M. Mafokosi , Jan-Harm C. Pretorius , Gopinath Chattopadhyay
{"title":"Modeling of impact of operations and maintenance on safety, availability, capacity, and cost of Railways-A System dynamics approach","authors":"Katleho R.M. Mafokosi , Jan-Harm C. Pretorius , Gopinath Chattopadhyay","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100463","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100463","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>the transport infrastructure, particularly the railway infrastructure plays a vital role in the delivery of freight and the transportation of people. The ability and reliability of the railway infrastructure to deliver goods and transport people are challenged by train derailments and collisions caused by infrastructure breakdowns. Lack of maintenance has been identified as one of the causes of infrastructure breakdowns leading to accidents. The current paper proposes that if the railway infrastructure safety, availability, capacity, and cost are modeled using system dynamics, the impact of infrastructure operation and maintenance on safety can be predicted more accurately. The paper follows systems thinking approach that aims to understand the railway infrastructure as a system, by defining the system structure, system component relationships, and system behavior. The impact on railway infrastructure is modeled using system dynamics by developing causal loop diagrams and stock and flow diagrams which define the system structure, and system component relationships, and models the system behavior of safety, availability, capacity, and cost.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 100463"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210970624000337/pdfft?md5=1b580f57352c573e022549d1728c0c21&pid=1-s2.0-S2210970624000337-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141582689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A mathematical model for a two-service skip-stop policy with demand-dependent dwell times","authors":"Rodolphe Farrando , Nadir Farhi , Zoi Christoforou , Alain Urban","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100461","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper presents a discrete-event model for a mass-transit line operated with a two-service skip-stop policy while allowing for train dwell times to vary according to passengers’ demand volumes. The model is formulated by two mathematical constraints on the train’s travel and safe separation times that govern the train dynamics on the line. In addition, the model takes into account trains’ dwell times, which are affected by both the services offered by the operator and passenger demand. The model is written in the max-plus algebra, a mathematical framework that allows us to derive interesting analytical results, including the fundamental diagram of the line, which describes the relationship between the average train time headway (or frequency), the number of trains running on the line and the passenger travel demand. The paper also derives indicators that are capable of quantifying and, thus, assessing the impact of a skip-stop policy on passengers’ travel. Finally, the paper compares two different passenger demand profiles. Results show that long-distance passengers mainly benefit from skip-stop policies, while short-distance travelers may experience an increase in their travel time. For long-distance passengers, the increase in the waiting time is counterbalanced by the decrease in the in-vehicle time, leading to an overall decrease in total passenger travel time.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 100461"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141539906","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}
B. Pascariu , M. Samà , P. Pellegrini , A. D’Ariano , J. Rodriguez , D. Pacciarelli
{"title":"Formulation of train routing selection problem for different real-time traffic management objectives","authors":"B. Pascariu , M. Samà , P. Pellegrini , A. D’Ariano , J. Rodriguez , D. Pacciarelli","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100460","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The train routing selection problem (TRSP) addresses the optimized selection of alternative routes as a preliminary step for real-time railway traffic management problem (rtRTMP). In the TRSP, route selection relies on estimating potential delays resulting from scheduling decisions. The selected routes are then exclusively applied in the rtRTMP. While prior research established the mathematical model and solution algorithms for the TRSP, its practical application in real-time rail traffic management remains limited. The existing TRSP model focuses on a single objective function for the rtRTMP. However, in practice, various stakeholders may prioritize different objectives, leading to diverse objective functions employed in the rtRTMP. This paper extends the TRSP model by considering a range of suitable objectives for the rtRTMP. We formulate the TRSP for each objective function and enhance the cost estimation model to evaluate the correspondence between the TRSP and rtRTMP objective functions. We then assess the overall effectiveness of the TRSP for the rtRTMP through an evaluation that takes into account several configurations of the model and the rtRTMP solution approach used. Our purpose is to enlarge the applicability of the TRSP and enhance the efficiency of the rtRTMP for real-world systems. The paper includes an in-depth computational analysis of two French case studies to investigate the performance of the TRSP across different rtRTMP configurations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 100460"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141324876","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}
Antoine Plissonneau , Luca Jourdan , Damien Trentesaux , Lotfi Abdi , Mohamed Sallak , Abdelghani Bekrar , Benjamin Quost , Walter Schön
{"title":"Deep reinforcement learning with predictive auxiliary task for autonomous train collision avoidance","authors":"Antoine Plissonneau , Luca Jourdan , Damien Trentesaux , Lotfi Abdi , Mohamed Sallak , Abdelghani Bekrar , Benjamin Quost , Walter Schön","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100453","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100453","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The contribution of this paper consists of a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based method for autonomous train collision avoidance. While DRL applied to autonomous vehicles’ collision avoidance has shown interesting results compared to traditional methods, train-like vehicles are not currently covered. In addition, DRL applied to collision avoidance suffers from sparse rewards, which can lead to poor convergence and long training time. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes a method for training a reinforcement learning (RL) agent for collision avoidance using local obstacle information mapped into occupancy grids. This method also integrates a network architecture containing a predictive auxiliary task consisting in future state prediction and encouraging the intermediate representation to be predictive of obstacle trajectories. A comparison study conducted on multiple simulated scenarios demonstrates that the trained policy outperforms other deep-learning-based policies as well as human driving in terms of both safety and efficiency. As a first step toward the certification of a DRL based method, this paper proposes to approximate the policy learned by the RL agent with an interpretable decision tree. Although this approximation results in a loss of performance, it enables a safety analysis of the learned function and thus paves the way to use the strengths of RL in certifiable algorithms. As this work is pioneering the use of RL for collision avoidance of rail-guided vehicles, and to facilitate future work by other engineers and researchers, a RL-ready simulator is provided with this paper.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 100453"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141303993","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":"Clustering railway passenger demand patterns from large-scale origin–destination data","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100452","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100452","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Train passenger demand fluctuates throughout the day. In order to let train services, such as the line plan and timetable, match this fluctuating demand, insights are needed into how the demand is changing and for which periods the demand is relatively stable. Hierarchical clustering on both regular and normalized origin–destination (OD) data is used to determine for each workday continuous time-of-day periods in which the passenger demand is homogeneous. The periods found for each workday are subsequently used as input in a clustering algorithm to look for similarities and differences between workdays. The methods for finding homogeneous periods during the day and week are applied to a case study covering a large part of the railway network in the Netherlands. We find large differences between the periods based on regular OD matrices and those based on normalized OD matrices. The periods based on regular OD matrices are more compact in terms of passenger volumes and average kms travelled and therefore more suitable to use as input for designing a service plan. Comparison of different workdays shows that mainly the peak periods on Friday are far away from Monday to Thursday, and hence could benefit from an altered service plan.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 100452"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210970624000222/pdfft?md5=e3307aa4033adaabcf9e162d7b3955a9&pid=1-s2.0-S2210970624000222-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141133705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Train separation at cruising speed, how it can improve current railway operations","authors":"Michael Nold, Francesco Corman","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100451","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper systematically reviewed the slipping operation, which is a train separation at cruising speed. For this, we describe the historical and operational background of the operation scenario practiced for over 100 years. Based on the concept of slipping, we discuss the holistic potential to improve current railway operations, considering travel time saving, energy saving, the increase of capacity utilization, station topology, driver requirements, and vehicle usage. Finally, a simulation of a theoretical urban railway line with several scenarios quantifies the magnitudes of the improvements. Based on the slipping test cases, one parameter can improve enormously, e.g., up to −65 % energy saving, −33 % capacity usage, and travel time reductions. Otherwise, slipping can slightly improve several parameters simultaneously.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100451"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210970624000210/pdfft?md5=acace1781dfac6944735ff6c3617cd72&pid=1-s2.0-S2210970624000210-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141067608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Analyzing the impact of timetable elements on railway line capacity","authors":"Qinglun Zhong , Libin Zang , Rudong Yang , Zhao Sheng , Ruihua Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100450","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100450","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Train timetabling poses inherent challenges, prompting the need to enhance existing schedules by extracting valuable insights from the current timetable structure. By such philosophy, this paper studies the impact of timetable elements on the consumed capacity. These elements primarily encompass train operation parameters, including running times and stop plans. Their impact is defined as the deviation of consumed capacity relative to their variations. We initially establish a link between consumed capacity and timetable elements. This relationship is articulated as the signed sum of timetable elements along a designated ”critical path”. Then, the limited impact of any timetable element is clarified, namely changing an element can impact the consumed capacity with its neighbor trains in a combinatorial way. With this knowledge, we analyze the impact of a single element, using stop plans for example. This result is then generalized into analyzing the impact of several dependent and independent stop plans. The findings on capacity calculation and impact analysis of a single element are tested through real-world numerical computations and then extended to analyzing various capacity factors, such as average speed and heterogeneity.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100450"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140906444","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}
Satish Ajabrao Ambhore , Valentino Sangiorgio , Richard van der Weide
{"title":"Railway signals passed at danger: A bibliometric analysis","authors":"Satish Ajabrao Ambhore , Valentino Sangiorgio , Richard van der Weide","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100449","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100449","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Signal passed at danger (SPAD) is the most frequent cause of rail accidents as confirmed by relevant investigation in the field. The purpose of this paper was to identify the trends in SPAD research. Consequently, we aim to inspire and motivate future researchers, particularly academicians, to delve into this critical issue. Currently, the majority of researchers working on this topic are from the railway industry. For this reason, conducting a comprehensive review of existing research would yield significant value to both the academic and technical communities. This research examines the developments and accomplishments in this field concerning SPAD using the bibliometric library of R software from 1966 to the end of 2022. By bridging the gap in the existing literature, this research facilitates the global exchange of knowledge among railway experts, ultimately contributing to the reduction of safety risks and associated economic costs.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100449"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140901676","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":"What fosters shippers’ rail dispreference? Insights from Indian steel-makers with disparate output volumes","authors":"J Ajith Kumar , Sayan Mukherjee , Alok Baveja , K. Narayan , Rajiv Misra","doi":"10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100447","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100447","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Over time, rail's share of the freight market has steadily decreased and, currently, is significantly lower than that of the road. This study explores what fosters shippers' rail dispreference. The study is conducted in the domain of outbound logistics in the steel-making industry in India. Twenty-one industry experts are interviewed in-depth to capture their perceptions, and their responses are analysed. Of these, seven are industry experts, and the remaining fourteen are logistics managers working across two steel plants, among which the annual output of one is about ten times that of the other. We find that a capacity shortage in the rail sector and the monopoly position of the rail transport provider together foster multiple factors that drive shippers' rail dispreference. Further, shipper firm size moderates the influence of some of these factors, influencing shippers' rail dispreference to a lesser extent in the larger firms than in the smaller ones. The study highlights the realization that while increasing rail capacity is necessary, it is not enough by itself, but must be complemented by targeted policy changes. The study brings to the forefront the roles played by rail capacity shortage, rail monopoly position, and shipper firm size in shippers' rail dispreference.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51821,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100447"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140822838","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}