A large-scale hybrid micro- and mesoscopic simulation approach for railway operation

Abstract

In this study, the existing agent-based simulation framework MATSim is extended towards a module for the simulation of trains and their interactions with the infrastructure. The proposed railway simulation module railsim offers several advantages over existing railway planning tools: railsim is open-source, easily adaptable, allows for a microscopic, mesoscopic or hybrid micro-mesoscopic simulation setup and is fully integrated in an existing simulation framework. Trains have a spatial dimension along several infrastructure segments. Trains accelerate and decelerate based on vehicle- and infrastructure-specific attributes as well as the available capacity ahead of the vehicle. The interaction of vehicles as well as the modeling of the infrastructure is adapted to the railway system. Trains are enabled to reserve infrastructure elements (fixed block segments, moving blocks), and reservation requests interact with each other. The illustrative Switzerland case study reveals that an overall unique capacity of 3 trains per section and 10 trains per station ensures most trains reach their destinations successfully, while lower capacities lead to insufficient infrastructure and train disruptions.