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Solving Large Scale Crew Scheduling Problems in Practice

Author

Listed:
  • Abbink, E.J.W.
  • Albino, L.
  • Dollevoet, T.A.B.
  • Huisman, D.
  • Roussado, J.
  • Saldanha, R.L.

Abstract

This paper deals with large-scale crew scheduling problems arising at the Dutch railway operator, Netherlands Railways (NS). NS operates about 30,000 trains a week. All these trains need a driver and a certain number of guards. Some labor rules restrict the duties of a certain crew base over the complete week. Therefore splitting the problem in several subproblems per day leads to suboptimal solutions. In this paper, we present an algorithm, called LUCIA, which can solve such huge instances without splitting. This algorithm combines Lagrangian heuristics, column generation and fixing techniques. We compare the results with existing practice. The results show that the new method significantly improves the solution.

Suggested Citation

  • Abbink, E.J.W. & Albino, L. & Dollevoet, T.A.B. & Huisman, D. & Roussado, J. & Saldanha, R.L., 2010. "Solving Large Scale Crew Scheduling Problems in Practice," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2010-63, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:ems:eureir:21711
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dennis Huisman & Leo G. Kroon & Ramon M. Lentink & Michiel J. C. M. Vromans, 2005. "Operations Research in passenger railway transportation," Statistica Neerlandica, Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research, vol. 59(4), pages 467-497, November.
    2. Hartog, A. & Huisman, D. & Abbink, E.J.W. & Kroon, L.G., 2006. "Decision support for crew rostering at NS," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2006-04, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    3. Abbink, E.J.W., 2008. "Solving large scale crew scheduling problems by using iterative partitioning," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2008-03, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    4. Marco E. Lübbecke & Jacques Desrosiers, 2005. "Selected Topics in Column Generation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 53(6), pages 1007-1023, December.
    5. Huisman, D., 2005. "A column generation approach to solve the crew re-scheduling problem," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2005-54, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    6. Cynthia Barnhart & Ellis L. Johnson & George L. Nemhauser & Martin W. P. Savelsbergh & Pamela H. Vance, 1998. "Branch-and-Price: Column Generation for Solving Huge Integer Programs," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 46(3), pages 316-329, June.
    7. Erwin Abbink & Matteo Fischetti & Leo Kroon & Gerrit Timmer & Michiel Vromans, 2005. "Reinventing Crew Scheduling at Netherlands Railways," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 35(5), pages 393-401, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Piotr Gołębiowski & Marianna Jacyna & Andrzej Stańczak, 2021. "The Assessment of Energy Efficiency versus Planning of Rail Freight Traffic: A Case Study on the Example of Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-18, September.
    2. Y. Wang (Ying) & Z. Shang (Zheming) & Huisman, D. & D'Ariano, A. & J.C. Zhang (Jinchuan), 2018. "A Lagrangian Relaxation Approach Based on a Time-Space-State Network for Railway Crew Scheduling," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI2018-45, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    3. Bach, L. & Dollevoet, T.A.B. & Huisman, D., 2014. "Integrating Timetabling and Crew," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2014-03, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    4. Kroon, L.G. & Huisman, D. & Abbink, E.J.W. & Fioole, P-J. & Fischetti, M. & Maróti, G. & Schrijver, A. & Steenbeek, A. & Ybema, R., 2008. "The new Dutch timetable: The OR revolution," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2008-19, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    5. Lukas Bach & Twan Dollevoet & Dennis Huisman, 2016. "Integrating Timetabling and Crew Scheduling at a Freight Railway Operator," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(3), pages 878-891, August.
    6. Jütte, Silke & Thonemann, Ulrich W., 2012. "Divide-and-price: A decomposition algorithm for solving large railway crew scheduling problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(2), pages 214-223.
    7. Heil, Julia & Hoffmann, Kirsten & Buscher, Udo, 2020. "Railway crew scheduling: Models, methods and applications," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 283(2), pages 405-425.
    8. Leo Kroon & Dennis Huisman & Erwin Abbink & Pieter-Jan Fioole & Matteo Fischetti & Gábor Maróti & Alexander Schrijver & Adri Steenbeek & Roelof Ybema, 2009. "The New Dutch Timetable: The OR Revolution," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 39(1), pages 6-17, February.
    9. Dauzère-Pérès, Stéphane & De Almeida, David & Guyon, Olivier & Benhizia, Faten, 2015. "A Lagrangian heuristic framework for a real-life integrated planning problem of railway transportation resources," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 138-150.
    10. F. Zeynep Sargut & Caner Altuntaş & Dilek Cetin Tulazoğlu, 2017. "Multi-objective integrated acyclic crew rostering and vehicle assignment problem in public bus transportation," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 39(4), pages 1071-1096, October.
    11. Cacchiani, V. & Huisman, D. & Kidd, M.P. & Kroon, L.G. & Toth, P. & Veelenturf, L.P. & Wagenaar, J.C., 2013. "An Overview of Recovery Models for Real-time Railway Rescheduling," Econometric Institute Research Papers 50112, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    12. Şahin, Güvenç & Yüceoğlu, Birol, 2011. "Tactical crew planning in railways," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 1221-1243.

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