Passenger Train Operation Research Articles

Incentivising operational performance on the UK rail infrastructure since 1996

This paper describes the various measures that were introduced to incentivise Railtrack (the owner and operator of rail infrastructure in the UK) 2 Railtrack was vested from British Rail in April 1994 and privatised in May 1996. 2 to improve the performance of the UK railway infrastructure (in terms of delays and cancellations to trains). The paper traces the development of the operational performance regimes between Railtrack and then Network Rail 3 Railtrack's assets together with the responsibility for managing the UK rail network were transferred from Railtrack to Network Rail in October 2002. 3 and the franchised passenger train operators (TOCs), as well as licence enforcement and other actions that were taken to try to encourage improvements in network performance. It sets out the changes that have occurred since the Hatfield accident in October 2000, and the obligations that have been placed on Network Rail since it took over ownership and management of the network. It suggests that while the performance regimes have sought to establish incentives to achieve an efficient level of network performance, in practice the framework has undergone a number of changes and in any case the infrastructure owner has had relatively limited direct control over the outcome (particularly in terms of delay experienced by the final customer). As a consequence, the results have been at best mixed. There is now a stable financial and incentive structure and much greater industry co-operation over performance initiatives, however the delivery of a stable, reliable rail network remains a considerable challenge for the industry over the next 10 years.

Accounting for UK rail freight track charges: privatisation, politics and the pursuit of private sector vested interests

In 1996, the UK government privatised the railway industry based on a separation of rail infrastructure from train operations. Track, stations and signalling were transferred to a private sector infrastructure company, Railtrack plc. Separate passenger and freight train operators were required to pay track access charges to Railtrack for use of its rail infrastructure. In 2001, in an attempt to meet the government’s plan to expand freight traffic, the government-appointed rail regulator substantially reduced the amount of track charges payable to Railtrack by the freight operators. The resulting shortfall in Railtrack’s revenue is met by public subsidy from another regulatory agency, the Strategic Rail Authority. A failure by the regulators to insist on rail freight growth targets or to impose any claw-back of the subsidies for non-performance is a tribute to weak political and legislative control over regulatory mechanisms and, to a certain extent, reflects the ‘capture’ of the state regulatory process by the freight industry. The net result has been a decline in rail freight traffic, an increase in public subsidy and a substantial increase in the earnings of the largest freight operator.

Maintenance Routing for Train Units: The Transition Model

Train units need regular preventive maintenance. Given the train units that require maintenance in the forthcoming one to three days, the rolling stock schedule must be adjusted so that these urgent units reach the maintenance facility in time. Maróti and Kroon (2004) propose a model that requires a large amount of input data. In this paper we describe a less involved multicommodity flow type model for this maintenance routing problem. We study the complexity of the problem. It turns out that the feasibility problem for a single urgent train unit is polynomially solvable but the optimization version is NP-hard. Finally, we report our computational experiments on practical instances of NS Reizigers, the main Dutch operator of passenger trains.

Efficient Circulation of Railway Rolling Stock

Railway rolling stock is one of the most significant cost components for operators of passenger trains. The efficient circulation of rolling stock is therefore one of the main objectives pursued in practice. This paper focuses on the determination of appropriate numbers of train units of different types together with their efficient circulation on a single line. To utilize the train units on this line in an efficient way, they are coupled to or uncoupled from the trains in certain stations according to the passengers’ seat demand in peak and off-peak hours. Because coupling and uncoupling train units must respect specific rules related to the shunting possibilities in the stations, it is important to take into account the order of the train units in the trains. This aspect strongly increases the complexity of the rolling stock circulation problem. This paper presents a solution approach based on an integer multicommodity flow model with several additional constraints related to the shunting processes at the stations. The approach is applied to a real-life case study based on the timetable of NS Reizigers, the main Dutch operator of passenger trains.

Competition in the UK passenger railway industry: Prospects and problems

The promotion of competition between passenger train operators was a key aim of the 1992- 97 Conservative Government when it privatized British Rail. Although the potential for competition in the market was constrained through regulation at the time of the sale, competition for the market became intense. Regulatory controls are now being relaxed and the promotion of competition remains central to the present Labour Government's rail strategy, particularly in the form of a redefined and reinvigorated franchising programme. It seems to be generally accepted in policy-making circles that it is both possible and desirable to encourage competition in the UK's railway industry on the grounds that it can further enhance service quality across the network. This paper highlights some qualifications to this position and suggests that, for various reasons, a strong policy emphasis on market liberalization may be impractical or unsuitable, at least in the short to medium term.