Abstract
This work provides a new methodology to solve the rail freight train service design problem, with the following distinctive characteristics: (1) service costs, traveling distances and capacities of different service paths in each double-hump yard are explicitly considered; and (2) the direction of train service movement through double-hump yards are determined. The problem is formulated as integer programming, aiming at minimizing the total cost of cumulative train service cost, service cost and distance-driven cost. Three examples of different scales are solved using tabu search algorithm. The results and process of the algorithm, compared with exact solutions determined by the ILOG Cplex software, demonstrate high computational efficiency and solution quality. A small- and a large-scale case study in China are used to examine the model. The results show that the methodology used could save between 8.3 and 40% of the number of shifted service cars compared with the best-known published model.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmed AH, Poojari CA (2008). An overview of the issues in the airline industry and the role of optimization models and algorithms. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 59(3):267–277.
Assad AA (1980). Modeling of rail networks: toward a routing/makeup model. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological 14(1):101–114.
Ahuja RK, Jha KC, Liu J (2007). Solving real-life railroad blocking problems. Interfaces 37(5):404–419.
Andersen J, Crainic TG, Christiansen M (2009a). Service network design with asset management: formulations and comparative analyses. Transportation Research Part C 17(2):197–207.
Andersen J, Crainic TG, Christiansen M (2009b). Service network designwith management and coordination of multiple fleets. European Journal of Operational Research 193(2):377–389.
Andersen J, Christiansen M (2009). Designing new European rail freight services. Journal of the Operational Research Society 60(3):348–360.
Bagloee SA, Ceder A (2011). Transit-network design methodology for actual-size road networks. Transportation Research Part B 45(10):1787–1804.
Barnhart C, Jin H, Vance PH (2000). Railroad blocking: a network design application. Operations Research 48(4):603–614.
Crainic TG, Ferland JA, Rousseau JM (1984). A tactical planning model for rail freight transportation. Transportation science 18(2):165–184.
Crainic TG, Rousseau JM (1986). Multicommodity, multimode freight transportation: a general modeling and algorithmic framework for the service network design problem. Transportation Research Part B 20(3):225–242.
Campetella M, Lulli G, Pietropaoli U, Ricciardi N (2006). Freight service design for the Italian railways company. In: Jacob R, Müller-Hannemann M (eds) ATMOS 2006: 6th Workshop on Algorithmic Methods and Models for Optimization of Rail-Ways, Dagstuhl, Germany. Internationales Begegnungs- und Forschungszentrum für Informatik (IBFI): Schloss Dagstuhl.
Caprara A, Malaguti E, Toth P (2011). A freight service design problem for a railway corridor. Transportation Science 45(2):147–162.
Fukasawa R, de Aragao MP, Porto O, Uchoa E (2002). Solving the freight car flow problem to optimality. Electron Notes in Theoretical Computer Science 66(6):42–52.
Fügenschuh A, Homfeld H, Schülldorf H (2013). Single-car routing in rail freight transport. Transportation Science 49(1):1–19.
Glover F (1986). Future paths for integer programming and links to artificial intelligence. Computers and Operations Research 13(5):533–549.
Haghani AE (1989). Formulation and solution of combined train routing and makeup, and empty car distribution model. Transportation Research Part B 23(6):433–452.
Huntley CL, Brown DE, Sappington DE, Markowicz BP (1995). Freight routing and scheduling at CSX transportation. Interfaces 25(3):58–71.
Holmberg K, Hellstrand J (1998). Solving the uncapacitated network design problem by a Lagrangean heuristic and branch-and-bound. Operations Research 46(2):247–259.
Ibarra-Rojas OJ, Delgado F, Giesen R (2015). Planning, operation, and control of bus transport systems: a literature review. Transportation Research Part B 77:38–75.
Ireland P, Case R, Fallis J, Dyke CV, Kuehn J, Meketon M (2004). The Canadian Pacific railway transforms operations by using models to develop its operating plans. Interfaces 34(1):5–14.
Jacob R (2007). On shunting over a hump. Technical Report 576, Department of Computer Science, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
Jacob R, Marton P, Maue J, Nunkesser M (2010). Multistage methods for freight train classification. Networks 57(1):87–105.
Keaton MH (1989). Designing optimal railroad operating plans: Lagrangian relaxation and heuristic approaches. Transportation Research Part B 23(6):415–431.
Keaton MH (1992). Designing railroad operating plans: a dual adjustment method for implementing Lagrangian relaxation. Transportation Science 26(4):263–279.
Lübbecke ME, Zimmermann UT (2005). Shunting minimal rail car allocation. Computational Optimization and Applications 31(3):295–308.
Lin BL, Wang ZM, Ji LJ, Tian YM, Zhou GQ (2012). Optimizing the freight train connection service network of a large-scale rail system. Transportation Research Part B 46(5):649–667.
Lulli G, Pietropaoli U, Ricciardi N (2011). Service network design for freight railway transportation: The Italian case. Journal of the Operational Research Society 62(12):2107–2119.
Marin A, Salmeron J (1996a). Tactical design of rail freight networks. Part I: Exact and heuristic methods. European Journal of Operational Research 90(1):26–44.
Marin A, Salmeron J (1996b). Tactical design of rail freight networks. Part II: Local search methods with statistical analysis. European Journal of Operational Research 94(1):43–53.
Meng Q, Wang S (2011). Liner shipping service network design with empty container repositioning. Transportation Research Part E 47(5):695–708.
Morlok EK, Peterson RB (1970). A Final Report on a Development of a Geographic Transportation Network Generation and Evaluation Model. In Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Meeting. Transportation Research Forum, pp 99–103.
Newton HN (1996). Network design under budget constraints with application to the railroad blocking problem. Ph.D. dissertation, Auburn University, Auburn.
Newton HN, Barnhart C, Vance PH (1998). Constructing railroad blocking plans to minimize handling costs. Transportation Science 32(4):330–345.
Ng MW, Hong KL (2016). Robust models for transportation service network design. Transportation Research Part B 94:378–386.
Petersen ER (1977). Railyard modeling: Part I. Prediction of put-through time. Transportation Science 11(1):37–49.
Pedersen MB, Crainic TG (2007). Optimization of intermodal freight service schedules on train canals. Research Report CIRRELT-2007-51, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur les réseaux d’entreprise, la logistique et le transport, Montréal.
Pedersen MB, Crainic TG, Madsen OBG (2009). Models and tabu search meta-heuristics for service network design with asset-balance requirements. Transportation Science 43(2):158–177.
Upadhyay A, Bolia N (2014). Combined empty and loaded train scheduling for dedicated freight railway corridors. Computers and Industrial Engineering 76:23–31.
Xiao J, Lin B (2016). Comprehensive optimization of the one-block and two-block train formation plan. Journal of Rail Transport Planning and Management 6(3):218–236.
Zhu E (2011). Scheduled service network design for integrated planning of rail freight transportation. Publication CIRRELT-2011-11, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur les réseaux d’entreprise, la logistique et le transport, Montréal.
Zhu E, Crainic TG, Gendreau M (2014). Scheduled service network design for freight rail transportation. Operations Research 62(2):383–400.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety, Beijing Jiaotong University, under Contract No. RCS2014ZTY6 and the Science and Technology Department of the China Railway Corporation under Grant No. 2014X010-B. We would like to extend our gratitude to Dr. Boliang Lin for his instructive advice and useful suggestions, to Dr. Xingchen Zhang for his valuable contribution upon the completion of this work, and warmly to Tao Liu for his work in enhancing the quality of the study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, Z., Ceder, A. Efficient design of freight train operation with double-hump yards. J Oper Res Soc 68, 1600–1619 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41274-017-0187-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41274-017-0187-6