The train marshalling by a single shunting engine problem

Adlbrecht, Jan-Alexander; Hüttler, Benno; Zazgornik, Jan; Gronalt, Manfred

doi:10.1016/j.trc.2015.07.006

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Various techniques have been proposed to optimize different classification yard processes. [35][36][37][38][39][40] Recent papers optimize yards in the structured European operating context [41][42][43][44][45][46] with shorter blocks and trains, and more frequent train departures, compared to North American classification yard operations with longer blocks and trains, and once-daily departures for each block. Novel methods of sorting railcars have also been researched to make more effective use of available classification tracks.…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of traffic complexity on railway gravity hump classification yard performance and capacity

Dick

2022

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F:

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An optimal freight train plan requires practitioners to find a balance between mainline and yard efficiencies by adjusting the complexity of the yard operation and evaluating trade-offs between the throughput volume, number of blocks and number of trains handled at a given classification (marshalling) yard. To increase knowledge of these trade-offs, YardSYM is used to model the Belt Railway Company of Chicago (BRC) Clearing Yard, a major gravity hump classification yard that processes approximately 3000 railcars per day. The experimental design specifies traffic patterns of varying complexity designed to determine the fundamental relationship between yard throughput volume, the total number of blocks assembled in the yard, and the level of service. Simulation results indicate that yard performance decreases as railcar volume increases and as the number of blocks increases. The simulation results also demonstrate the challenge of two diametrically opposed objectives for yard operators: maximizing railcar connections to outbound trains while departing outbound trains on schedule. Improved knowledge of these relationships can be implemented to advance network, traffic assignment, and blocking models, and allow practitioners to make more informed hump yard operating decisions that improve the efficiency of carload traffic and manifest train operations.

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Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of traffic complexity on railway gravity hump classification yard performance and capacity

Dick

2022

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F:

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“…. , 17,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 But in this placement, there are two unused positions between 16 (the last appearance of an element of B 5 ) and 8 (the first appearance of an element of B 4 ), which can contain the elements 2 and 3 of B 4 . By placing these two elements immediately after 16, we obtain a solution that satisfies our assumptions, and is at least as good:…”

Section: Notations and Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While a shunting yard has only a limited number of classification tracks, there may be several trains to be processed at the same time. Therefore, it is obvious that the aim should be to keep the number of classification tracks per inbound train as small as possible [6], [9], [10]. In the Train Marshalling Problem (TMP), using as few classification tracks as possible is the only objective [2], [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel Dynamic Programming Approach to the Train Marshalling Problem

Falsafain

Tamannaei

2020

IEEE Trans. Intell. Transport. Syst.

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Train marshalling is the process of reordering the railcars of a train in such a way that the railcars with the same destination appear consecutively in the final, reassembled train. The process takes place in the shunting yard by means of a number of classification tracks. In the Train Marshalling Problem (TMP), the objective is to perform this rearrangement of the railcars with the use of as few classification tracks as possible. The problem has been shown to be NP-hard, and several exact and approximation algorithms have been developed for it. In this paper, we propose a novel exact dynamic programming (DP) algorithm for the TMP. The worst-case time complexity of this algorithm (which is exponential in the number of destinations and linear in the number of railcars) is lower than that of the best presently available algorithm for the problem, which is an inclusion-exclusion-based DP algorithm. In practice, the proposed algorithm can provide a substantially improved performance compared to its inclusion-exclusion-based counterpart, as demonstrated by the experimental results.

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“…As a case study, the authors considered the real instances of data from the Hallsberg marshaling yard in Sweden, as one of the busiest yards in Europe. Adlbrecht et al (2015b) introduced the train marshaling by a single shunting engine problem considering a routing problem of a locomotive during flat shunting, contrary to the vast majority of stated papers that considered the problem of shunting over a hump. Flat shunting refers to a marshaling procedure where a shunting locomotive gathers wagons scattered over different tracks in the classification area and compounds the wagons on the same formation track.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variable Neighborhood Search for Multistage Train Classification at Strategic Planning Level

Belošević

Ivic

2017

Computer aided Civil Eng

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Considerations on influences and interrelations between structural design and functional planning are imperative for raising the cost and operational effectiveness of marshaling yards in the context of managing wagonload services. This article focuses on multistage train classification, which rearranges a set of wagons from inbound trains to create a set of multigroup outbound trains in a proper form. Previous papers on the subject of multistage train classification were limited to considerations on the optimal classification schedule addressing the number of sorting steps as a primary objective. In contrast, this article proposes a model for overall optimization of the classification schedule and sidings layout, simultaneously addressing the number of sorting steps and the total number of wagon movements in the objective function. The model is created on a binary integer programming formulation. A Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) heuristic is developed due to the computational complexity of the problem. Numerical experiments validate the formulated model and demonstrate the efficiency of the VNS meta‐heuristic approach.

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The train marshalling by a single shunting engine problem

Cited by 16 publications

References 14 publications

Influence of traffic complexity on railway gravity hump classification yard performance and capacity

Influence of traffic complexity on railway gravity hump classification yard performance and capacity

A Novel Dynamic Programming Approach to the Train Marshalling Problem

Variable Neighborhood Search for Multistage Train Classification at Strategic Planning Level

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