STUDIES IN RAILROAD OPERATIONS AND ECONOMICS. VOLUME 7. A BRIEF REVIEW OF VARIOUS NETWORK MODELS

In the past decade, the railroad industry has developed various types of models to investigate different operating problems and policies, as well as proposed changes in the physical plant of a railroad. This report presents a review of the railroad network models. Two basic types of network models are reviewed: simulation models and optimization models. In the network simulation models reviewed, car movements through a network are simulated for a fixed set of train schedules and route structures. Changes in operating policies are tested by making appropriate changes in either the input data deck or the internal logic of the simulation program. The network optimization models reviewed optimize train schedules (or in one case, a railroad network) for a fixed traffic demand. Quantities one might vary in a optimization model include traffic levels, network configuration, cost indexes, and parameters such as train speeds and processing rates at yards.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • See also Volume 6, PB-244 123, and Volume 8, PB-244 125.
• Corporate Authors:

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  Transportation Systems Division
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02139

  Federal Railroad Administration

  Office of Policy and Program Development, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • FOLK, J F
• Publication Date: 1972-6

Media Info

• Pagination: 96 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Economic factors; Freight cars; Freight forwarders; Freight traffic; Freight trains; Freight transportation; Mathematical models; Network analysis (Planning); Optimization; Policy; Railroad cars; Railroad traffic; Railroad transportation; Railroads; Reliability; Scheduling; Simulation; Traffic delays; Train operations
• Old TRIS Terms: Cargo transportation; Freight forwarding; Operating strategies; Train performance
• Subject Areas: Economics; Finance; Freight Transportation; Policy; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00092232
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: MIT-R72-42 Final Rpt., FRA/RPD-75/1.6
• Contract Numbers: DOT-FR-10006
• Files: NTIS, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Oct 18 1976 12:00AM