TY - JOUR
T1 - Simultaneous train rerouting and rescheduling on an N-track network
T2 - A model reformulation with network-based cumulative flow variables
AU - Meng, Lingyun
AU - Zhou, Xuesong
N1 - Funding Information:
The work of the first author was jointly supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71201009 ), State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety, Beijing Jiaotong University (Nos. RCS2013ZZ001 , RCS2012ZT003 ), Beijing Higher Education Young Elite Teacher Project (No. YETP0581 ) and Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20120009120015 ). The authors would like to thank three anonymous referees and Associate Editor Dr. Malachy Carey for their constructive suggestions, which improve the content of this paper substantially. The generous assistance of our colleague Ms. Xiaojie Luan is greatly appreciated. The authors are of course responsible for all results and opinions expressed in this paper.
PY - 2014/9
Y1 - 2014/9
N2 - Train dispatching is critical for the punctuality and reliability of rail operations, especially for a complex rail network. This paper develops an innovative integer programming model for the problem of train dispatching on an N-track network by means of simultaneously rerouting and rescheduling trains. Based on a time-space network modeling framework, we first adapt a commonly used big- M method to represent complex "if-then" conditions for train safety headways in a multi-track context. The track occupancy consideration on typical single and double tracks is then reformulated using a vector of cumulative flow variables. This new reformulation technique can provide an efficient decomposition mechanism through modeling track capacities as side constraints which are further dualized through a proposed Lagrangian relaxation solution framework. We further decompose the original complex rerouting and rescheduling problem into a sequence of single train optimization subproblems. For each subproblem, a standard label correcting algorithm is embedded for finding the time dependent least cost path on a time-space network. The resulting dual solutions can be transformed to feasible solutions through priority rules. We present a set of numerical experiments to demonstrate the system-wide performance benefits of simultaneous train rerouting and rescheduling, compared to commonly-used sequential train rerouting and rescheduling approaches.
AB - Train dispatching is critical for the punctuality and reliability of rail operations, especially for a complex rail network. This paper develops an innovative integer programming model for the problem of train dispatching on an N-track network by means of simultaneously rerouting and rescheduling trains. Based on a time-space network modeling framework, we first adapt a commonly used big- M method to represent complex "if-then" conditions for train safety headways in a multi-track context. The track occupancy consideration on typical single and double tracks is then reformulated using a vector of cumulative flow variables. This new reformulation technique can provide an efficient decomposition mechanism through modeling track capacities as side constraints which are further dualized through a proposed Lagrangian relaxation solution framework. We further decompose the original complex rerouting and rescheduling problem into a sequence of single train optimization subproblems. For each subproblem, a standard label correcting algorithm is embedded for finding the time dependent least cost path on a time-space network. The resulting dual solutions can be transformed to feasible solutions through priority rules. We present a set of numerical experiments to demonstrate the system-wide performance benefits of simultaneous train rerouting and rescheduling, compared to commonly-used sequential train rerouting and rescheduling approaches.
KW - Cumulative flow variable
KW - Lagrangian relaxation
KW - Rail network
KW - Train dispatching
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84902346437&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84902346437&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.trb.2014.05.005
DO - 10.1016/j.trb.2014.05.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84902346437
SN - 0191-2615
VL - 67
SP - 208
EP - 234
JO - Transportation Research Part B: Methodological
JF - Transportation Research Part B: Methodological
ER -