Abstract
The skip-stop operating mode for urban rail transit systems defines three types of stations: A, B, and AB stations. In this strategy, all the trains stop at AB stations, and A (B) trains stop at only A (B) stations. Skipping some stops can increase the operating speed, which leads to direct benefits by reducing the in-vehicle time for passengers and improving the operational efficiency for operators. With the skip-stop mode, passengers have to transfer at an AB station when the trains they take do not stop at their destination, and the extra transfer waiting time depends on the AB station distribution and the corresponding headways. In this paper, we develop a train scheduling optimization model to minimize the total passenger travel time so that passengers can get to their destinations faster without experiencing excessive transfer waiting times. A two-phase approach based on a genetic algorithm is developed to solve this mixed-integer nonlinear problem. Finally, the proposed train scheduling optimization model is applied to an idealized corridor and a real-world scenario based on Line 6 of the Beijing URT network. An analysis of the type of scenarios in which skip-stop operations are applicable and the efficiency of different types of trips is presented. The results show that a short headway (below 5–6 min) is favorable for a skip-stop operation and there needs to be at least one AB station for every five stations. The average travel time per passenger can be reduced by more than 1 min for the Beijing scenario under the optimized skip-stop operation.
Highlights
Due to the advantages of high reliability and large capacity, urban rail transit (URT) systems are attractive to the public and the backbone of modern transportation services, especially for large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.Generally, the trains are often served by stopping at every station along the route of the URT system, which is considered to be convenient and stable by transit patrons
The framework of the approach to the time schedule optimization process is described as follows: the railway network information, train parameters and passenger demand are treated as inputs; the stopping pattern and headway at the start terminal are the outputs according to the limitations of the headway constraints when no overtaking is allowed, the train number constraints, and the AB station density constraints
This paper proposed a train scheduling optimization model to minimize the total travel time of a skip-stop operation
Summary
Due to the advantages of high reliability and large capacity, urban rail transit (URT) systems are attractive to the public and the backbone of modern transportation services, especially for large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. A. Yang et al.: Train Scheduling for Minimizing the Total Travel Time With a Skip-Stop Operation in URT. The framework of the approach to the time schedule optimization process is described as follows: the railway network information, train parameters and passenger demand are treated as inputs; the stopping pattern and headway at the start terminal are the outputs according to the limitations of the headway constraints when no overtaking is allowed, the train number constraints, and the AB station density constraints. Wang et al [12] proposed a bilevel optimization approach to solve the train scheduling problem of a skip-stop operation with the aim of minimizing both the total passenger travel time and the energy consumption of the trains. We can compute the total cost involved with the skip-stop operation and compare it with a standard service
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