Railroad capacity tools and methodologies in the U.S. and Europe

Abstract

A growing demand for passenger and freight transportation, combined with limited capital to expand the United States (U.S.) rail infrastructure, is creating pressure for a more efficient use of the current line capacity. This is further exacerbated by the fact that most passenger rail services operate on corridors that are shared with freight traffic. A capacity analysis is one alternative to address the situation and there are various approaches, tools, and methodologies available for application. As the U.S. continues to develop higher speed passenger services with similar characteristics to those in European shared-use lines, understanding the common methods and tools used on both continents grows in relevance. There has not as yet been a detailed investigation as to how each continent approaches capacity analysis, and whether any benefits could be gained from cross-pollination. This paper utilizes more than 50 past capacity studies from the U.S. and Europe to describe the different railroad capacity definitions and approaches, and then categorizes them, based on each approach. The capacity methods are commonly divided into analytical and simulation methods, but this paper also introduces a third, ''combined simulationanalytical'' category. The paper concludes that European rail studies are more unified in terms of capacity, concepts, and techniques, while the U.S. studies represent a greater variation in methods, tools, and objectives. The majority of studies on both continents use either simulation or a combined simulation-analytical approach. However, due to the significant differences between operating philosophy and network characteristics of these two rail systems, European studies tend to use timetable-based simulation tools as opposed to the non-timetable-based tools commonly used in the U.S. rail networks. It was also found that validation of studies against actual operations was not typically completed or was limited to comparisons with a base model.

Decarbonizing intraregional freight systems with a focus on modal shift

“…Domestic water freight activity has declined in North America 6 and inland water transportation on rivers and the great lakes plays a modest role. Freight dominates passenger railway operations in North America [191] and the rail freight system is considered safe, efficient and cost-effective [192,193]. Intermodal transportation in North America is growing modestly [102,189,194] but it is now the largest single source of revenue for US freight railways, which before was coal transport [195].…”

“…EU-level and national efforts have led to a large number of new intermodal terminals [122]. The European railway system is primarily geared towards passenger service and rail infrastructure is mostly publicly owned [191]. The EU mandates non-discriminatory access to railway tracks [158].…”

Trouble in transit: Organizational barriers to workers’ health

“…[We need] constant safety personal around, and have people care about what goes on [in the organization]. People don't care because they are scared of the ramifications … (Train operator) High demands Due to technological advancements, increased ridership, and an aging infrastructure [Pouryousef et al, ], transit organizations across America are simultaneously balancing increased bus and train scheduling with increased traffic, more transparent operating schedules, and construction. As a result, another frequently discussed workplace stress was conflict related to the higher demands imposed by new technological advances.…”

“…In the short‐term, under‐reporting accidents may keep workers’ compensation cost low. Long‐term, however, failure to address the cause of underlying injuries can have costly health and financial impacts for employees and higher financial cost for the organization once the cause is addressed [Pransky et al, ; Markowitz et al, ; Pouryousef et al, ]. In contrast, early reporting and related intervention (e.g., proper training) can lead to decreased absenteeism, increased productivity, and better morale [Pransky et al, ].…”

Maximizing Freight Traffic by Re-Routing

“…A very good overview of the establishing approaches is given by Pouryousef et al [3]. Abril et al [4] divide these approaches into analytical, optimization or simulation methods.…”