An Integrated Approach for Selection of Intercity Transport Schemes on Railway Networks

Svetla Dimitrova Stoilova
Technical University of Sofia, Faculty of Transport, Bulgaria

Abstract

A major problem connected with planning the organization of trains on a railway network is the optimization of the scheme of movement, which determines the routing and the number of trains. In this paper, an integrated approach of fuzzy linear programming method and multi-criteria analysis including three steps is proposed. In the first step, we defined the schemes of transportation of intercity trains and optimized each scheme in terms of direct operating costs by taking into account the uncertainty of passenger flows and utilization of train capacity using the fuzzy linear programming method. In the second step we determined the additional technological criteria to assess the variant schemes. The Fuzzy AHP method was applied to determine the weights of criteria. Using the results obtained from Fuzzy AHP, we prioritized the variant schemes of transportation by applying the PROMETHEE method. The third step presents the optimal choice of transportation of trains on a railway network based on minimum ratio of normalized costs and normalized PROMETHEE net outranking flow. In this step, the model uses the results obtained in the first and second steps. The practicability of the integrated approach is demonstrated
through the case study of Bulgaria’s railway network, and nine schemes were investigated. The model results and the real situation were compared. It was found out that the optimal scheme of intercity train transportation improves the service and reduces direct operating costs.