Railway Operation

REPORT 2006 - 4 Railway Operation Alex Landex, Anders H. Kaas & Sten Hansen Centre for Traffic and Transport Technical University of Denmark Railway Operation Alex Landex, Anders H. Kaas & Sten Hansen Subject: Railway Capacity Railway operation Infrastructure Headway Timetable Timetabling Network effects Train This Report has been published by: Centre for Traffic and Transport Technical University of Denmark Report 2006-4 Published in 50 copies. The report may be purchased from the Centre for Traffic and Transport (CTT) Bygningstorvet, Building 115 Technical University of Denmark DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby Att: Bente Svensson, Phone: +45 4525 1527 E-mail: [email protected] The price is DKK 150,00 + tax + postage ISSN-1600-1575 ISBN-87-91137-21-7 Index 1 Characteristics of railway traffic ......................................... 1 1.1 Overview ....................................................................... 2 1.2 Capacity conditions ......................................................... 3 1.3 Rolling stock and train capacity......................................... 8 1.4 The level of service is part of the alternative..................... 12 1.4.1 Local effects or network effects....................................... 15 1.5 The Utilization problem.................................................. 15 1.6 Summary .................................................................... 17 References............................................................................... 18 2 Capacity conditions........................................................... 19 2.1 Railways...................................................................... 21 2.2 Road traffic.................................................................. 23 2.3 Air transport ................................................................ 25 References............................................................................... 26 3 The Capacity Concept........................................................ 29 3.1 Capacity demand and flow ............................................. 29 3.2 Possible capacity .......................................................... 30 3.2.1 Maximum capacity Kmax ................................................. 31 3.2.2 Fundamental capacity Kf ................................................ 31 3.2.3 Available capacity Ka ..................................................... 32 3.3 Capacity conditions ....................................................... 33 3.3.1 Quality ........................................................................ 33 3.3.2 The optimal field of capacity........................................... 37 References............................................................................... 43 4 Determination of headway times ...................................... 45 4.1 Time elements in the headway time ................................ 46 4.2 Discreet block and discreet ATC ...................................... 50 4.2.1 Example of calculation................................................... 53 Index 4.3 Wiggly wire.................................................................. 55 4.3.1 Example of calculation with wiggly wires .......................... 56 4.4 Moving block................................................................ 57 4.5 Example of calculation with moving block......................... 60 4.6 Optimizing of the block length(s) on a line........................ 61 References ............................................................................... 64 5 Capacity on double track lines ........................................... 67 5.1 Inhomogeneous traffic....................................................68 5.1.1 Example of calculation with mixed traffic...........................76 5.2 Stations........................................................................78 5.2.1 Halts............................................................................78 5.2.2 Conflict points ...............................................................81 5.3 New construction / extension...........................................85 References ................................................................................87 6 Capacity on single track lines............................................. 89 6.1 Dimensioning the sections...............................................89 6.2 Crossing station.............................................................91 6.2.1 Parallel movement .........................................................93 6.3 Operation patterns.........................................................97 6.3.1 Deadlock situations ........................................................97 6.3.2 Convoy operation...........................................................99 6.4 Capacity increasing measures........................................ 100 References .............................................................................. 102 7 Timetabling...................................................................... 103 7.1 The planning process in case of timetabling ..................... 105 7.2 The dimensions of travel time........................................ 107 7.2.1 Connection conditions .................................................. 108 7.2.2 Running time supplement ............................................. 110 7.3 Regularity................................................................... 112 7.3.1 Reasons for delay and consequences .............................. 114 7.4 Delay propagation........................................................ 117 Railway Operation 7.4.1 Delays on double track lines with homogeneous traffic composition ................................................................ 118 7.4.2 Delays on double track lines with inhomogeneous traffic composition ................................................................ 123 7.4.3 Delays on single track lines ........................................... 125 References.............................................................................. 128 8 Network Effects ............................................................... 129 8.1 Network effects in the Danish context............................. 129 8.2 Methodical overview..................................................... 131 8.2.1 The general problem of Network effects .......................... 132 8.2.2 Network effects between Copenhagen and Ringsted ......... 133 8.2.3 Methodical results........................................................ 133 8.3 Network effects illustrated by queuing time ..................... 134 8.4 The size of the analysis area ......................................... 136 8.5 The importance of connections ...................................... 138 8.6 Summary ................................................................... 139 References.............................................................................. 139 List of References.................................................................. 141 List of Figures........................................................................ 145 List of Tables ......................................................................... 149 Symbols................................................................................. 151 Chapter 1: Characteristics of railway traffic Railway traffic offers a number of characteristics which are very different from both road traffic and other kinds of public transport (in this case bus traffic). An important difference between a road and a railway infrastructure project lies in the consequences of the projects. Primarily, because the characteristics of road traffic differ considerably to those of railway traffic. Road traffic is (essentially) individual traffic, whereas railway traffic is exclusively public transportation. With respect to the travellers, the infrastructure therefore only appears indirectly in the lines/routes available to the traveller. Furthermore, the use of the lines/routes is paid directly to the transport company in the form of fares. At first sight, planning of railway traffic has a number of features in common with bus traffic (lines, connections, regular frequency, regular interval timetables, etc.). However, this does not mean that the consequence calculation models used for bus traffic can be used directly. This is partly because busses are considered road traffic, partly because bus traffic has a relatively high frequency and that the traveller often has alternative routes 1 . That is seldom the case of railway traffic, and part of the approximations that are used for calculations of bus traffic will be too rough for calculation of railway traffic. Railway systems have much more bindings in the form of safety systems, overtaking possibilities, etc. Railway traffic (and modelling hereof) has also considerably more discreet phenomena than road and bus traffic, i.e. it is difficult to assume linear correlations. An example is the correlation between departures and available seats. For a given size of bus, more seats also mean more departures, i.e. there is a rough linear correlation between the number of departures and the number of seats. This correlation is not necessarily found in railway traffic, where the number of seats (in Denmark) can be five doubled without changing the frequency. This is explained in more details later. 1 By bus traffic is primarily meant bus traffic in Greater Copenhagen and other big cities. The majority of the examples

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