Timetable Construction
Service planning, Clock-face interval timetable, On time operation of freight services, On time running, Timetable stability
The timetable is the basis of the railway operation. Passengers plan their journey according to and with help of the train departure and arrival times. Production processes have to rely on transports in due time. Therefore it is important that a constructed timetable is feasible in reality. This will be only possible, if the timetable is free of conflicts and contains run time allowances for small disruptions that cannot be avoided.
Another issue in this context is the operational quality and punctuality. Does an operational process keep robustly, when disturbing influences occur, as for example longer dwell times because of more passengers boarding and alighting or longer running times because of unfavourable weather conditions? Or are effects like tailbacks to be expect which points out to unacceptable operational quality? How high the allowances have to be and where do they have to be located to guarantee a robust operation?
In the course of net wide service planning RMCon provides timetable concepts for passenger traffic, which meet the requirements of clock-face interval timetable (ITF). For the freight traffic the existence of slots for additional freight trains inside the timetable can be analyzed. For these tasks the Timetable Path and Infrastructure Management System RailSys is used. Its net wide conflict detection provides for a complete timetable construction considering all timetabled train runs.
In the course of the operational simulation the quality and robustness of an operational concept is investigated. For this task the planned timetable (conflict free, if possible) is supplemented with stochastic perturbations on the lines and in the stations. Several timetable days are simulated with different delay patterns (perturbed timetables). The level and development of the resulting additional delays, punctualities and realized connections are evaluated for interpretation of the operational quality and robustness.
