Railway Disruption Management in (Near) Out-of-Control Situations

This thesis investigates new models and methods for disruption management for railway systems in (near) out-of-control situations. On the one hand, we address the problem of finding an adapted line system that can be operated in the affected part of the railway network. On the other hand, we consider the problem of operating such an adapted line system in these situations, during which global coordination is impossible due to a lack of accurate and up-to-date information. We develop a Benders’-like algorithm to generate profitable and passenger oriented line plans. The underlying mathematical model partially integrates line planning with timetabling and rolling stock scheduling as the line plan should be feasible with respect to infrastructural and resource restrictions. To operate the line plans, we propose several local train dispatching strategies, requiring varying degrees of flexibility and coordination. Computational experiments based on disruptions in the Dutch railway network indicate that the algorithm performs well. For both a small and a large disrupted region the algorithm finds workable line plans within a couple of minutes. Simulation experiments also demonstrate that the produced line plans can be operated smoothly by applying the proper dispatching strategies.