A Study of the Problem of Improving the Utilization of the Non-Suburban Passenger Fleet in Indian Railways

This paper studies the problem of improving the utilization of the non-suburban passenger fleet of the Indian Railways. The constant growth of the non-suburban passenger traffic outstrips the additions provided to the fleet, which any way is an expensive proposition. The improvement in utilization is sought to be effected by using the fleet more often for the desired services. The paper identifies three constraints that influence the utilization : (i) composition requirements (ii) maintenance requirements and (iii) traffic delays. The need to standardize the composition of services and provide proper maintenance norms is highlighted. A methodology is proposed using OR techniques to evaluate current solutions and improve the same to optimality. A framework is suggested for analysing the implementability of the solutions. The paper also demonstrates a methodology to exploit the fact that there are usually a large number of optimal solutions. This involves using a secondary objective function to select a preferred solution.