Realtime optimal control of railway traffic

The dispatching of a large area in a railway net is a very challenging task because of the many constraints that have to be taken into account during the decision making process. Nowadays, dispatching is mainly taken care of by human operators. None of the algorithmic approaches attempted in the last three decades could solve this task. Their computational complexity or simulation accuracy was insufficient for practical application. The dispatching method presented in this work brings a new algorithmic approach with practical application. Based on the optimisation method specially developed for this purpose, optimal dispatching decisions are calculated. The resulting conflict-free timetable can be directly implemented in the railway operation. Additionally, the resulting timetable represents an input for the energy saving train speed control. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E217226.