Timetable rationalization & Operational improvements by human intervention in an urban rail transit system: An exploratory study

Abstract

The efficient scheduling of train running is fundamental to operational planning of train movement in the passenger-based transportation industry. The timetable determines the availability of transport services across time & space. It also indicates the need of supporting infrastructures like rolling stock, train control system, traction system, and manpower. The rationalization of the timetable may profoundly affect the efficiency of the operator by optimizing the need for supporting infrastructure. Timetable rationalization in an urban rail transit system is considered with the two aims, first is human intervention to meet up the rising passenger demand in form of ridership. Second is lowering the operational expenditure in terms of energy consumption during train operation. A data-based exploratory case study of Delhi Metro line-2 is used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach. This paper presents an overview of the initiatives adopted in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to ameliorate the train schedule and timetable by adopting innovative ways like matching supply with demand, real-time monitoring of demand for necessary intervention in the timetable of the day, coasting or energy-saving mode of operations in Automatic Train Operation, dwell time optimization, and interlacing of high-capacity trains during peak hours.