Sophisticated Capacity Determination Using Simulation

The determination and evaluation of the useable capacity of railway infrastructure is an essential part of railway operations science. The daily railway operation shows that the theoretical calculated capacity is often not available or useable in reality. To allow a more resilient capacity calculation for lines, nodes and networks and to assess the remaining and useable capacities, a precise operational simulation should be carried out, additional. With that the operational performance is analysed and the findings can be applied to the capacity evaluation. This technique is named ‘Sophisticated Capacity Determination’ in this essay. The methods workflow consists of three main steps: 1. Capacity calculation of lines, nodes or networks, Result: Maximum levels of occupation (number of trains / time period) 2. Operational Simulation with the program RailSys® (3) to detect the operations quality of lines, nodes or networks, Result: Operations quality 3. Adjustment of the maximum levels of occupation, Result: Verified maximum levels of occupation The advantage is that the Sophisticated Capacity Determination considers the specific characteristics of the infrastructure layout and operational conditions, and therefore provides accurate and dependable results. The identified effective capacity neither underutilises the infrastructure asset, nor does it suggest a level of utilisation that cannot be supported. This essay describes the fields of application of the Sophisticated Capacity Determination for the evaluation of partial networks with the aim of back coupling the results into the planning stage as well as into the arrangement of the daily operation.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AR040(1) Rail Capacity.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Gille, Andreas Martin
  • Siefer, Thomas
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2013-1-13 to 2013-1-17
• Date: 2013

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p
• Monograph Title: TRB 92nd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Networks; Operations; Railroads; Simulation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Rail system capacity
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01478596
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 13-2056
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Apr 16 2013 4:49PM