Abstract
Simulation methods are widely used in the field of railway planning and operations. Currently, several commercial software tools are available that not only provide functionality for railway simulation but also enable further evaluation and optimisation of the network for scheduling, dispatching, and capacity research. However, the various tools are all lacking with respect to the standards they utilise as well as their published interfaces. For an end-user, the basic mechanism and the assumptions built into a simulation tool are unknown, which means that the true potential of these software tools is limited. One of the most critical issues is the lack of the ability of users to define a sophisticated workflow, integrated in several rounds of simulation with adjustable parameters and settings. This paper develops and describes a user-based, customisable platform. As the preconditions of the platform, the design aspects for modelling the components of a railway system and building the workflow of railway simulation are elaborated in detail. Based on the model and the workflow, an integrated simulation platform with open interfaces is developed. Users and researchers gain the ability to rapidly develop their own algorithms, supported by the tailored simulation process in a flexible manner. The productivity of using simulation tools for further evaluation and optimisation will be significantly improved through the user-adaptable open interfaces.
Highlights
In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of railway planning and operations, the relationships between the critical components of railway systems and the behaviour of the studied system must be investigated
The static information refers to the invariant values of the railway systems, for example, the length of a track, the configuration of a train, and the scheduled departure time of a train run
The dynamic information will vary along the duration of the simulation
Summary
In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of railway planning and operations, the relationships between the critical components of railway systems and the behaviour of the studied system must be investigated. The potential areas of application of simulation tools include technical feasibility studies, determination of conflicts, evaluation of the quality of a timetable, capacity research, and dispatching. Currently available simulation tools for railway planning and operations lack, in large part, transparent standards and open interfaces. Some internal workflows, such as the applied dispatching algorithm and the implementation of signalling systems, are not sufficiently documented for users and third party individuals and, as such, it is difficult for the end-user to understand the internal assumptions and simplifications made within these tools. The open interface for user-based adaptable simulation and its applications are introduced in Sections 4 and 5
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