UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 12-1-2020 Analysis of High-Speed Rail Operations Using Vissim Simulation to Determine Access Charges and the Impact of Incidents on a Shared Network Komal Sree Teja Boyapati Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Transportation Commons Repository Citation Boyapati, Komal Sree Teja, "Analysis of High-Speed Rail Operations Using Vissim Simulation to Determine Access Charges and the Impact of Incidents on a Shared Network" (2020). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 4042. https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/4042 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ANALYSIS OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL OPERATIONS USING VISSIM SIMULATION TO DETERMINE ACCESS CHARGES AND THE IMPACT OF INCIDENTS ON A SHARED NETWORK By Komal Sree Teja Boyapati Bachelor of Engineering - Civil Engineering Birla Institute of Technology & Science Pilani, India 2017 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science in Engineering – Civil & Environmental Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas December 2020 Copyright 2021 Komal Sree Teja Boyapati All Rights Reserved Thesis Approval The Graduate College The University of Nevada, Las Vegas December 21, 2020 This thesis prepared by Komal Sree Teja Boyapati entitled Analysis of High-Speed Rail Operations Using Vissim Simulation to Determine Access Charges and the Impact of Incidents on a Shared Network is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering – Civil & Environmental Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Mohamed Kaseko, Ph.D. Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D. Examination Committee Chair Graduate College Dean Hualiang Teng, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Jin Ouk Choi, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Hokwon Cho, Ph.D. Graduate College Faculty Representative ii ABSTRACT Shared High-Speed Rail (HSR) networks are networks where two or more railway operators use the same railway network infrastructure for train operations. The train operations in the shared HSR network can be composed of different types of trains operating at different speeds with varying stops at stations in a network. The interactions between different types of trains in the shared HSR network depends on the characteristics of the network’s infrastructure and train operations, and affect the capacity of the network. When a rail operator who owns the infrastructure allows other operators to access its infrastructure, the additional traffic will lead to an increase in the cost of operations and maintenance of the infrastructure. In such cases, it is common for the other operators to be required to pay a fee, generally referred to as “access charge”. An access charge is a fee paid by a train operator to the owner of the infrastructure to compensate for the increased expenditure and other impacts of additional traffic such as additional delays due to congestion and incidents. The objective of this study is to develop a framework for the analysis of train operations including the impact of incidents on the operations and determining access charges for a shared HSR system using VISSIM traffic simulation software. As a case study, the study uses California High-Speed Rail (CHSR) which is an HSR project under construction in California. Phase 1 of the project will run from San Francisco to Los Angeles. XpressWest is an HSR system that plans to connect Las Vegas with Los Angeles through Palmdale by utilizing the railway network of CHSR. This study analyses the train operations and impact of incidents of the Palmdale - Los Angeles shared HSR corridor by developing a VISSIM simulation model of the shared corridor. A framework to calculate access charges for the shared CHSR corridor was developed in the study. The analysis of train operations showed that the XpressWest can operate together with the planned operations of the CHSR on the shared corridor without causing any significant additional congestion. Access charge pricing for the operation and maintenance of the Palmdale - Burbank corridor was calculated to be $14.61 per train-mile. The total access charge cost for XpressWest to access the Palmdale - Los Angeles corridor was determined as $23,468,083 per year. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to thank and express my deepest appreciation to my advisor Dr. Mohamed Kaseko. His constant support, guidance, and kindness have been the pillar of my graduate school education. His knowledge and tips on approaching a research problem have played an invaluable role in developing this thesis. The constructive criticism he provided urged me to be a better student, researcher, and better person. I’d also like to extend my deep gratitude to Dr. Hualiang (Harry) Teng. He provided me with the motivation, crucial comments, recommendations, and information that made the completion of this thesis possible. He also provided me with financial support during the summer of 2020. I would like to thank Dr. Jin Ouk Choi for being a part of my thesis committee and providing helpful comments. I’m grateful to Dr. Hokwon Cho whose classes have been exciting to attend, for being the Graduate College representative in my thesis committee and providing helpful remarks. I wish to thank and express my immense love for my parents, Madhusudhan Rao Boyapati and Sreedevi Velavolu, and family members, Dhanalaxmi Boyapati, Ramadevi Paidi, Madhulatha Bobba, Kishore Bobba, Srikar Bobba, and others whose love and support drive me through my life. Special thanks to my roommates during my graduate college Avinash Yaganapu, Sai Chandra Kosaraju, Chandrasekhar Kamineni, and Kavya Tatikonda for their companionship, help, and support. Finally, I am very thankful to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT . iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT . iv LIST OF TABLES . viii LIST OF FIGURES . xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background . 1 1.1.1 High-Speed Rail and its Brief History . 1 1.1.2 Shared HSR Systems . 3 1.1.3 Access Charges . 4 1.1.4 Incidents . 4 1.1.5 California High-Speed Rail and XpressWest . 4 1.2 Research Objective . 8 1.3 Research Scope and Limitations . 8 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW . 10 2.1 Shared/Blended High-Speed Rail Networks . 10 2.2 Access Charges . 14 2.3 California High-Speed Rail Blended System . 26 2.5 Simulation Software for HSR Operations . 28 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY . 29 3.1 Overview of Research Methodology . 29 3.2 Methodology . 29 3.2.1 Data Collection . 29 3.2.2 Development and Calibration of VISSIM Simulation Model . 32 3.2.3 Processing the Simulation Data . 33 3.2.4 Development of Network Timetable and Framework for Simulation Scenarios . 34 v 3.2.5 Analysis of Train Operations and Impact of Incidents on the Network Model . 35 3.2.6 Development of Access Charge Framework and Incident Cost . 36 CHAPTER 4: IMPLEMENTATION . 41 4.1 Development of VISSIM Network Model . 41 4.1.1 Network Operation Parameters . 41 4.2 Network Development and Calibration . 48 4.3 Processing the Simulation Data . 49 4.4 Development of Network Timetable and Framework for Simulation Scenarios . 50 4.4.1 Development of Network Timetable . 50 4.4.2 Development of Framework for Simulation Scenarios . 52 4.5 Analysis of Simulation Data for Incident Simulations . 57 4.5.1 Off-Peak Hour Incident Simulations . 58 4.5.2 Peak Hour Incident Simulations . 63 4.5.3 Analysis of Impact of Incidents on the Network Model . 71 CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS OF RESULTS . 73 5.1 Determination of Shortest Allowable Headway Between Two Successive Trains . 73 5.2 Analysis of Impact of Incidents on the Network Model . 75 5.2.1 Impact of Incidents on Off-Peak Hour Service . 75 5.2.2 Impact of Incidents on Peak Hour Service . 80 5.2.3 Impact of incidents caused by XpressWest on CHSR trains per Year . 85 5.3 Calculation of Access Charge . 86 5.3.1 Cost Estimation for Track and Systems Services . 86 5.3.2 Cost Estimation for Station Services . 90 5.3.3 Maintenance of Infrastructure Costs . 94 5.3.4 Operations and Maintenance Access Charge Cost for XpressWest . 98 5.4 Comparison of Access Charge Prices . 100 5.5 Development of Incident Cost . 102 5.4.1 Cost of Train Operations . 102 5.4.2 Cost of Train Depreciation . 104 vi 5.4.3 Calculation of Incident Cost for XpressWest . 105 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS . 107 6.1 Summary and Conclusions . 107 6.2 Contributions . 108 6.3 Recommendation for Future Research . 110 REFERENCES . 113 CURRICULUM VITAE . 121 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 braking Distance Calculation for CHSR (a) and XpressWest (b) trains for Palmdale - Burbank Section Model . 45 Table 2 braking Distance Calculation for CHSR and XpressWest trains for Palmdale - Burbank Section Model . 45 Table 3 Summary Statistics for CHSR train Arrival Headways of 2016 CHSR Draft Timetable and Simulation Model Timetable . 50 Table 4 Peak Hour Timetable for the Simulation Model . 52 Table 5 Off-Peak Hour Timetable for the Simulation Model .