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Generation and Optimization of Train Timetables Using Coevolution
Paavan Mistry and Raymond S.K. Kwan
School of Computing,
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT,
United Kingdom
{paavan,rsk}@comp.leeds.ac.uk
Abstract. Train timetabling is a process of assigning suitable arrival and departure times to trains at the stations they visit and at key track junctions. It is desirable that the timetable focusses on passenger preferences and is operationally viable and profitable for the Train Operating Companies (TOCs). Many hard and soft constraints need to be considered relating to the track capacities, set of trains to be run on the network, platform assignments at stations and passenger convenience. In the UK, train timetabling is mainly the responsibility of a single rail infrastructure operator – Network Rail. The UK rail network has a structure that is complex to integrate, which makes it difficult to achieve regularised train timetables that are common in many European countries. With a large number of independent TOCs bidding for slots to operate over limited capacities, the need for an efficient and intelligent computer-aided tool is obvious. This work proposes a Cooperative Coevolutionary Train Timetabling (CCTT) algorithm concerned with the automatic generation of planning timetables, which still demands a high degree of accuracy and optimization for them to be useful.
LNCS 2723, p. 693 f.
lncs@springer.de
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003