theperformanceofrailwaydynamictrafficmanagement.docVIP

Evaluating the performance of railway dynamic traffic management First/Corresponding Author: Ir. Andrea D’Ariano(1) Co-Authors: Prof. Dario Pacciarelli(2), Dr. Marco Pranzo(3) and Ir. Robin Hemelrijk(4) Department of Transport Planning, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands(1), Dipartimento di Informatica e Automazione, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy(2), Dipartimento di Ingegneria dellInformazione, Università di Siena, Italy(3), Department of Strategie Innovatie, ProRail, The Netherlands(4) Abstract This paper investigates the effectiveness of global strategies for real-time railway traffic optimization. In the last years, this research area experienced an increasing interest due to the expected growth of traffic and the limited possibilities of enhancing the infrastructure, which increase the needs for efficient use of resources and the pressure on traffic controllers. We carry on our study using an advanced computerized dispatching system, called ROMA (Railway traffic Optimization by Means of Alternative graphs). This system is able to optimize the future evolution of the railway traffic while taking into account accurately the actual train positions and dynamics, as well as railway signaling and operating rules and conditions. Specifically, we compare local versus global optimization strategies for train reordering and rerouting, and estimate the potential of the new concept of dynamic traffic management. An extensive computational study is carried out, based on a dispatching area of the Dutch railway network. We study practical size instances and different types of disturbances, including train delays and blocked tracks. Our results show the high potential of ROMA dispatching system as a support tool to improve punctuality. Keywords: Railways, Traffic Optimization, Disturbance Management. 1. Introduction The expected growth of railway traffic and the limited budget available to build new inf