Public Transport and Railways

- Routes

- Stations

- Rolling stocks (vehicles)

Choosing and arranging the building blocks (routes, stations, rolling stock) to obtain
maximum benefits at the minimum cost.

Negative:

• Accidents (costs for hospital, police, legal, intangible costs, ...)
• Building damage caused by air pollution and vibrations
• Health costs due to air and noise pollution
• Environmental (climate change, habitat loss, runoff, property values, ...)
• Congestion (time is money)

Positive:

• Transport employment
• Agglomeration effects (e.g. competition and innovation)
• Increase in land value

Transportation investments increase the differences between two regions.

Large quantities can be moved more efficiently than small quantities

--> therefore heavily used roads are more competitive than less used roads

- Transport routes with higher demands, such as those to large cities, are more highly developed.

- This further increases the attractiveness of these cities for development.

People who have no choice expect to use public transport are often called "captive riders" (versus "choice riders")

Captive drivers: People who cannot use the PT (location, handicapped)

- Human life stages (students may use PT more than older people)

- Population density

- Quality of service

1. Travel Demand Modelling

2. Elasticities

1. Trip generation- how many trips are made in an area? (based on socio-economic data)

2. Trip distribution - where do the trips go? (gravity model)

3. Mode choice - what mode of transport is used for the trips? (depends on socio-economic data)

4. Trip assignment - wich route do they use?

1. Level - traffic

2. Level - control

3. Level - building & maintenance

Type = what is being moved (passengers or goods/freight)?

Mode = what is used to perform the movement?

Private / Public = who owns the vehicle and infrastructure?

Individual / Collective = who decides where the vehicle goes?

Purpose = why is the transport being carried out?

Method 1: Timetable drives infrastructure --> long-term planning

Method 2: Infrastructure drives timetable --> short-term planning

Excess capacity is useful for maintenance, disruptions, special services and flexibility.

is a function of:

• Infrastructure (including signaling)
• Rolling stock (trains being operated)
• Timetable (how trains are scheduled)

and their interaction --> which is why it's complicated!

Because the braking distance of a train is longer than the driver's sight distance...

--> only one train can be operated between A-B because another train could be anywhere on the track.

Increasing Capacity --> by dividing line into blocks

Problems:

1. Trains stopping (reduces capacity and wastes energy) --> Solution: Advanced Signals

2. Personnel costs --> Solution: Automation

A conservative estimate of how much distance a train needs to stop.

Function of:

• Train characteristics
• Wheater conditions ( track adhesion)
• Topology (gradient)

Moving Block + Digital Data Communications

- All trains have their own stopping distance

- This stopping distance moves with train --> "block" moves

- Train location and movement authority sent digitally to/from central dispatching.

Theoretically much higher capacity, although similar capacity from small block size

Blocking time = time when a block is considered "occupied":

a) Route formation = time needed by dispatcher to assign route for train

b) Sight time = time needed by driver to see signal

c) Approach time = time needed by driver to react and stop train if necessary

d) Running time = time needed for train to travel over the block section

e) Clearing time = time needed by system to recognise train is out of section

f) Route release = time needed by dispatcher to "un"set route

= a set of block occupation times for a single train path over a given railway line.

used for:

- estimating capacity

- scheduling

Double track lines have higher capacity.

Slower trains use more capacity (all else being equal)

Train heterogeneity uses more capacity - scheduling can reduce impacts

For a section A-E:

- Interlining another train (e.g. B-D) --> lost capacity for A-E

- Short Trains (e.g. from B-D and back) --> lost capacity for A-E

UIC Capacity Compression

\(\text{UIC Capacity} = \frac{\text{occupancy time}}{\text{defined time period}}\)

There are no well accepted methods for estimating total network capacity.

Nodes must be dimensioned for peak demand, which occurs around pulse times in an integrated periodic timetable.
Areas where multiple directions arrive at similar times are suitable areas for creating Taktfahrplan node points.

Infrastructure is highly stressed at pulse times in nodes.

Possible improvements:

• bigger stations
• more efficient signalling
• new track layout/flyovers in station throat

Faster travel time (=improved infrastructure on lines and in stations)

vs

Faster passenger transfer time (=improved station infrastructure)

A framework for Operations Planning

R = Reliability

A = Availability

M = Maintainability

S = Safety

SBB HOT: Hub-Optimisation-Technology:

Automated conflict solver for critical spots in the network (conflict detected --> trains are instructed to change speeds)

Compute timetable in real time

Decision support for calculating timetables, optimising delays and energy consumption.

ADL: Adaptive Lenkung = Train Control

Connected driver advisory system --> calculates the optimum speed and sends this to a tablet used by the engine driver
--> reduces unplanned stops at signals

Timetable planning is a highly iterative process:

1. Develop initial timetable based on chosen network design

2. Prepare draft vehicle schedule

3. Prepare draft crew schedule

4. Check feasibility and re-plan if needed

Software is available to optimise some steps of timetable planning, but not for the full process!

Vehicle scheduling is typically a sub-problem completed for each line:

1. Develop rough plan based on generic rolling stock for a given period (e.g. 1-week)

2. Choose vehicle type to match passenger demand

3. Assign specific vehicles to create circultion plan

4. Assess system-wide impacts and re-plan if necessary