Conference article

This paper investigates the real-time train rescheduling problem in a high-speed railway line under a complete segment blockage by exploring the effectiveness of incorporating train coupling strategy on the train timetable rescheduling. The problem lies on determin-ing the actual arrival and departure time as well as the platform track assignment of trains at stations after a complete segment blockage caused by disruptions, where trains satisfying strict coupling rules could be coupled with others to avoid being cancelled. A mixed integer linear programming model is formulated to minimize the total deviation of trains’ arrival and departure time to that in the planned timetable, and to maintain the reasonability of the reordering and coupling decisions. In the model, both the acceleration and deceleration time of trains when departing from and arriving at stations are explicitly considered, while the platform track of trains at passed stations is jointly optimized. A rolling horizon algorithm is designed to effectively solve large-scale problem instances since the rescheduling of timetables is usually determined in stages in practice. Test instances constructed based on the Wuhan-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway in China are utilized to test the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approaches. Computational results demonstrate that the train coupling strategy is likely to reduce the total deviation and to relief the propaga-tion of delays. Meanwhile, the rolling horizon algorithm can provide practically acceptable rescheduled timetables quickly. Thus, the train coupling strategy is promising in the field of train timetable rescheduling to cope with large-scale disruptions.

Train timetable rescheduling, train coupling strategy, complete segment blockage, mixed integer linear programming, rolling horizon algorithm