A quantitative framework for assessing rail station operational resilience under infrastructural modifications

Rail stations are essential components in rail networks, influencing operational continuity and urban connectivity. The track and signalling configuration around a station area, where trains arrive and depart, is highly vulnerable to disruptions. Prior research has largely assessed resilience at the network level or the impact of station design on passenger flow; less attention has been paid to the impact of physical track and signalling configurations within the station area on train operations. This study presents an optimisation-based framework that examines the impact of targeted station area infrastructure upgrades on train routing and scheduling during disruptions. The framework evaluates two key performance metrics: the ability to adapt train movements and the stability of scheduled service during disruption. A real-world case study from the German rail network demonstrates the framework’s applicability, supported by sensitivity analysis across disruption and varying operational measure configurations. Results indicate that although resilience is highly sensitive to disruption type and traffic levels, targeted infrastructure modifications can significantly reduce overall impact, operational changes and support faster recovery across diverse disruption scenarios. Further, the study highlights that during severe disruptions involving multiple simultaneous failures, targeted infrastructure modifications continue to have better performance, supporting service continuity. Overall, the findings provide infrastructure managers with a practical basis to strategically prioritise station area upgrades and make resilience-oriented informed decisions.