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Reliability and heterogeneity of railway services

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  • Vromans, M.J.C.M.
  • Dekker, R.
  • Kroon, L.G.

Abstract

Reliability is one of the key factors in transportation, both for passengers and for cargo. This paper examines reliability in public railway systems. Reliability of railway services is a complex matter, since there are many causes for disruptions and at least as many causes for delays to spread around in space and time. One way to increase the reliability is to reduce the propagation of delays due to the interdependencies between trains. In this paper we attempt to decrease these interdependencies by reducing the running time differences per track section, i.e. by creating more homogeneous timetables. Because of the complexity of railway systems, we use network wide simulation for the analysis of the alternative timetables. We report on both theoretical and practical cases. Besides a comparison of different timetables, also general timetabling principles are deduced.

Suggested Citation

  • Vromans, M.J.C.M. & Dekker, R. & Kroon, L.G., 2003. "Reliability and heterogeneity of railway services," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2003-090-LIS, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    • Handle: RePEc:ems:eureri:1076
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    Cited by:

    1. Lee, Yusin & Lu, Li-Sin & Wu, Mei-Ling & Lin, Dung-Ying, 2017. "Balance of efficiency and robustness in passenger railway timetables," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 142-156.
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    7. Yiting Xing & Ling Li & Zhuming Bi & Marzena Wilamowska‐Korsak & Li Zhang, 2013. "Operations Research (OR) in Service Industries: A Comprehensive Review," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 300-353, May.
    8. Dewilde, Thijs & Sels, Peter & Cattrysse, Dirk & Vansteenwegen, Pieter, 2014. "Improving the robustness in railway station areas," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 235(1), pages 276-286.
    9. Lusby, Richard M. & Larsen, Jesper & Bull, Simon, 2018. "A survey on robustness in railway planning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 266(1), pages 1-15.
    10. Solinen, Emma & Palmqvist, Carl-William, 2023. "Development of new railway timetabling rules for increased robustness," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 198-208.
    11. Zhang, Jiamin, 2015. "Analysis on line capacity usage for China high speed railway with optimization approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 336-349.
    12. Simon Bull & Jesper Larsen & Richard M. Lusby & Natalia J. Rezanova, 2019. "Optimising the travel time of a line plan," 4OR, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 225-259, September.
    13. Fredrik Ljunggren & Kristian Persson & Anders Peterson & Christiane Schmidt, 2021. "Railway timetabling: a maximum bottleneck path algorithm for finding an additional train path," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 597-623, October.
    14. Jovanović, Predrag & Kecman, Pavle & Bojović, Nebojša & Mandić, Dragomir, 2017. "Optimal allocation of buffer times to increase train schedule robustness," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(1), pages 44-54.
    15. Vansteenwegen, Pieter & Dewilde, Thijs & Burggraeve, Sofie & Cattrysse, Dirk, 2016. "An iterative approach for reducing the impact of infrastructure maintenance on the performance of railway systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 252(1), pages 39-53.
    16. Franciszek Restel & Łukasz Wolniewicz & Matea Mikulčić, 2021. "Method for Designing Robust and Energy Efficient Railway Schedules," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-12, December.
    17. Reggiani, Aura & Nijkamp, Peter & Lanzi, Diego, 2015. "Transport resilience and vulnerability: The role of connectivity," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 4-15.
    18. Parbo, Jens & Nielsen, Otto A. & Prato, Carlo G., 2018. "Reducing passengers’ travel time by optimising stopping patterns in a large-scale network: A case-study in the Copenhagen Region," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 197-212.
    19. Chen, Hong & Cullinane, Kevin & Liu, Nan, 2017. "Developing a model for measuring the resilience of a port-hinterland container transportation network," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 282-301.
    20. Zhichao Cao & Zhenzhou Yuan & Silin Zhang, 2016. "Performance Analysis of Stop-Skipping Scheduling Plans in Rail Transit under Time-Dependent Demand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-23, July.
    21. Oskar Fr�idh & Hans Sipil� & Jennifer Warg, 2014. "Capacity for express trains on mixed traffic lines," International Journal of Rail Transportation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 17-27, February.
    22. Chihmao Hsieh & Sérgio Giovanetti Lazzarini & Jackson A. Nickerson & Marcio Laurini, 2010. "Does Ownership Affect the Variability of the Production Process? Evidence from International Courier Services," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 892-912, August.
    23. Krier, Betty & Liu, Chia-Mei & McNamara, Brian & Sharpe, Jerrod, 2014. "Individual freight effects, capacity utilization, and Amtrak service quality," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 163-175.
    24. Hyun Kim & Yena Song, 2018. "An integrated measure of accessibility and reliability of mass transit systems," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 1075-1100, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    heterogeneity; railways; reliability; simulation; transportation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
    • M - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics
    • M11 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Production Management

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