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Shunting yard operations: Theoretical aspects and applications

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  • Boysen, Nils
  • Fliedner, Malte
  • Jaehn, Florian
  • Pesch, Erwin

Abstract

Almost ever since freight has been transported via rail, shunting yards (also called classification or marshaling yards) are operated in order to separate freight trains and reassemble new trains. The efficient use of shunting yards has a deep impact on the efficiency and reliability of rail freight services. Thus, much research on shunting yards has been published, starting from the 1950s. Lately, several publications mostly focusing on the sorting procedures have livened up research on shunting yards. This paper reviews the literature on the operational processes at shunting yards over the last 40years and discusses the operational challenges of freight transshipment. The approaches are classified according to different sorting strategies which allows an easy access to the models for both, researchers and practitioners. The paper concludes with an overview on future research challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Boysen, Nils & Fliedner, Malte & Jaehn, Florian & Pesch, Erwin, 2012. "Shunting yard operations: Theoretical aspects and applications," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 220(1), pages 1-14.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:220:y:2012:i:1:p:1-14
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2012.01.043
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    Cited by:

    1. Kuzmicz, Katarzyna Anna & Pesch, Erwin, 2019. "Approaches to empty container repositioning problems in the context of Eurasian intermodal transportation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 194-213.
    2. Schwerdfeger, Stefan & Otto, Alena & Boysen, Nils, 2021. "Rail platooning: Scheduling trains along a rail corridor with rapid-shunting facilities," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 294(2), pages 760-778.
    3. Nils Boysen & Simon Emde & Malte Fliedner, 2016. "The basic train makeup problem in shunting yards," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 38(1), pages 207-233, January.
    4. Markus Bohlin & Sara Gestrelius & Florian Dahms & Matúš Mihalák & Holger Flier, 2016. "Optimization Methods for Multistage Freight Train Formation," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(3), pages 823-840, August.
    5. Mateusz Cichenski & Florian Jaehn & Grzegorz Pawlak & Erwin Pesch & Gaurav Singh & Jacek Blazewicz, 2017. "An integrated model for the transshipment yard scheduling problem," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 57-65, February.
    6. Boysen, Nils & Emde, Simon, 2016. "The parallel stack loading problem to minimize blockages," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(2), pages 618-627.
    7. Alena Otto & Erwin Pesch, 2019. "The train-to-yard assignment problem," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 41(2), pages 549-580, June.
    8. Roy, Debjit & van Ommeren, Jan-Kees & de Koster, René & Gharehgozli, Amir, 2022. "Modeling landside container terminal queues: Exact analysis and approximations," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 73-102.
    9. Boysen, Nils & Briskorn, Dirk & Fedtke, Stefan & Schmickerath, Marcel, 2019. "Automated sortation conveyors: A survey from an operational research perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(3), pages 796-815.
    10. Scheffler, Martin & Neufeld, Janis S. & Hölscher, Michael, 2020. "An MIP-based heuristic solution approach for the locomotive assignment problem focussing on (dis-)connecting processes," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 64-80.
    11. Jaehn, Florian & Rieder, Johannes & Wiehl, Andreas, 2015. "Single-stage shunting minimizing weighted departure times," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 133-141.
    12. Florian Jaehn & Alena Otto & Kilian Seifried, 2018. "Shunting operations at flat yards: retrieving freight railcars from storage tracks," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 40(2), pages 367-393, March.
    13. Florin RUSCA & Mihaela POPA & Eugen ROSCA & Aura RUSCA & Mircea ROSCA & Oana DINU, 2019. "Assessing The Transit Capacity Of Port Shunting Yards Through Discrete Simulation," Transport Problems, Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Transport, vol. 14(4), pages 101-112, December.
    14. Ruf, Moritz & Cordeau, Jean-François, 2021. "Adaptive large neighborhood search for integrated planning in railroad classification yards," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 26-51.
    15. David Boywitz & Nils Boysen & Dirk Briskorn, 2016. "Resequencing with parallel queues to minimize the maximum number of items in the overflow area," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 63(5), pages 401-415, August.
    16. Haahr, Jørgen & Lusby, Richard M., 2017. "Integrating rolling stock scheduling with train unit shunting," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 259(2), pages 452-468.
    17. Chen, Chongshuang & Dollevoet, Twan & Zhao, Jun, 2018. "One-block train formation in large-scale railway networks: An exact model and a tree-based decomposition algorithm," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 1-30.
    18. Alena Otto & Erwin Pesch, 2017. "Operation of shunting yards: train-to-yard assignment problem," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(4), pages 465-486, May.
    19. Stefan Fedtke & Nils Boysen, 2017. "Gantry crane and shuttle car scheduling in modern rail–rail transshipment yards," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 39(2), pages 473-503, March.
    20. Chen, C. & Dollevoet, T.A.B. & Zhao, J., 2017. "One-block train formation in large-scale railway networks: An exact model and a tree-based decomposition algorithm," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI-2017-32, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    21. Wang, Dian & Zhao, Jun & Peng, Qiyuan, 2022. "Optimizing the loaded train combination problem at a heavy-haul marshalling station," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    22. Shi, Tie & Zhou, Xuesong, 2015. "A mixed integer programming model for optimizing multi-level operations process in railroad yards," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 19-39.

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