Simulation-based methods to support the real-time management of railways nodes

Abstract

The quality of operative management of railway nodes is crucial for the effective operation of whole railway system. Current disposition systems often do not provide sufficient support for dispatchers in their decision-making. This paper describes a design proposal of a real-time decision support system based on the simulation model. Due to the properties of employed simulation model (ability to perform experiments and verify solution proposals, capability of obtaining partial results, graphical representation of the results etc.), the proposed system is suitable for decision-making support of dispatchers in railway node, as well as for new dispatchers training. The basis of the proposed system will be formed by a simulation model created in Villon simulation software, which enables creation of highly detailed microscopic simulation models reflecting many important aspects of the operation, including personnel and other types of resources. Necessary adjustments and improvements of the simulation software (e.g. introduction of sophisticated resource selection algorithms for modeling of dispatcher’s decision, thus reducing the dependence on the human factor) are discussed as well.