Downloaded from orbit.dtu.dk on: Dec 21, 2017 Quantitative Methods for Assessment of Railway Timetables Schittenhelm, Bernd Hermann; Nielsen, Otto Anker; Landex, Alex Publication date: 2013 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link back to DTU Orbit Citation (APA): Schittenhelm, B. H., Nielsen, O. A., & Landex, A. (2013). Quantitative Methods for Assessment of Railway Timetables. Technical University of Denmark, Transport. 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Quantitative Methods for Assessment of Railway Timetables PhD Thesis Bernd Schittenhelm February, 2013 Quantitative Methods for Assessment of Railway Timetables PhD thesis Bernd Schittenhelm Banedanmark / Rail Net Denmark & Technical University of Denmark Department of Transport Supervisor: Professor Otto Anker Nielsen Technical University of Denmark Department of Transport Co-supervisor: Associated professor Alex Landex Technical University of Denmark Department of Transport February 2013 PhD-2013-02 Banedanmark / Rail Net Denmark & Department of Transport, Technical University of Denmark Copyright: Copying permitted if source is stated. Published by: DTU Transport Bygningstorvet 116B DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby Order at: http://www.transport.dtu.dk Tel +45 45256500 [email protected] ISBN: 978-87-7327-257-2 (Electronic version) ISBN: 978-87-7327-258-9 (Printed version) Preface This PhD thesis is the result of a PhD project entitled ”Quantitative Methods for Assessment of Railway Timetables”. The study is an industrial PhD and has been prepared as a collaboration between the Danish railway infrastructure manager Rail Net Denmark (in Danish: Banedanmark) and the Department of Transport, Technical University of Denmark. This collaboration further supported the establishment of the study line “Railway Technology” at the Technical University of Denmark sponsored by the Danish Railway Association (in Danish: BaneBranchen). The PhD study has been supervised by Professor Otto Anker Nielsen and associated Professor Alex Landex. This PhD thesis provides a foundation for improving the attractiveness of future railway timetables. The thesis has conducted a process creating an agreement on the meaning of the term “timetable attractiveness” within the Danish railway sector. This resulted in a first common Danish list of six prioritized railway timetable evaluation and optimization criteria. Based on these criteria, the thesis has developed a set of 13 practical applicable key performance indicators for railway timetables in order to assess the timetable attractiveness level. The achieved results of this thesis are relevant for transport authorities, railway infrastructure managers, train operating companies and researchers studying the railway transportation system. This thesis is submitted as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy PhD in engineering science. Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark, February, 2013 Bernd Schittenhelm I Acknowledgements First I would like to express my gratitude to Rail Net Denmark (in Danish: Banedanmark) for being open to my idea about this industrial PhD project. Special thanks go to former director for Traffic Operations Susan Münster, former assistant director for the Department of Traffic Planning, Kim Andersen and my team leader John Theede Nielsen for encouraging me to make the idea to reality. In the following time period with several organizational changes within Rail Net Denmark, I would like to thank the assistant directors for the Department of Traffic Planning Jens Hjul-Nielsen, Peter Sonne and Lars Faczinek-Beckmann for supporting the idea about this PhD project and ensuring its realization. I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Otto Anker Nielsen for bringing his vast amount of experience into this PhD project and for supervising this PhD study. My biggest gratitude goes out to my co-supervisor, associated Professor Alex Landex. Without his help setting up this project, it might already have ended before it started. He was there to support me during phases in this PhD study when the motivation was not at its highest. In the final stage of this project, he set aside a big amount of time for extra supervisor meetings and for proof reading the PhD thesis. For his huge effort to helping realizing this PhD thesis I am very grateful. This thesis would not have been possible without all the railway experts that accepted to participate in and contribute to this PhD project: For the timetable stakeholder interviews, the joined timetabling criteria workshop and meetings to map and describe timetabling processes. I wish to thank: Arriva Danmark: Kent Nielsen & Michael Selvig Hansen Danish Ministry of Transport: Bastian Zibrandtsen (Transportministeriet) Danish Transport Authority: Benny Mølgaard, Claus Jørgensen, Jacob Møldrup Petersen & Jens Brix (Trafikstyrelsen) DB Schenker Rail Scandinavia: Claus Jensen, Susanne Olling Nielsen & Thomas Vestergaard DSB: Emil Madsen, Lars Christian Krogsdam, Niklas Kohl & Per Elgaard Hector Rail: Hans-Åke Gustavsson Lokalbanen: Henrik Henriksen Rail Net Denmark: Ib Flod Johansson, Kim Andersen & Lasse Toylsbjerg-Petersen (Banedanmark) Regionstog: Michael Jensen I would like to thank Fabrice Julien and Dr. Dennis Huisman for providing the graphical railway timetable examples from France and The Netherlands respectively. In the final stages of this PhD project it was possible to draw on valuable support from the RobustRailS research program at the Technical University of Denmark. This was an important help improving the scientific level of this PhD thesis. II Acknowledgements A big thank you goes out to the colleagues from the Department of Transport, Technical University of Denmark for making my stay there very joyful. I will miss our weekly football games. Special thanks go out to IT-supporter Kenneth Christensen for saving my computer a couple of times; to Michael Bruhn Barfod and Anders Vestergaard Jensen, from the Decision Management Group, for helping with planning and arranging the joined timetabling criteria workshop. They did a great job in taking on the roles of workshop facilitators. Thank you guys! Finally, I want to thank my family for their never-ending support coming as far away as Southern Germany. My sincerest gratitude, Bernd III Summary The aim of this PhD thesis is to improve the attractiveness of future railway timetables. To achieve this goal, the qualitative term “timetable attractiveness” needs to be made quantifiable. To establish what timetable attractiveness is, the thesis gives an introduction to railway timetables in the form of a timetable definition and an overview of commonly used timetable types and existing timetable classes. All major timetable stakeholders in a given railway sector must agree on the timetable aspects covered by the term “timetable attractiveness”. This research succeeded in creating such an agreement in the Danish railway sector, through a process that included individual stakeholder interviews followed by a joint timetabling criteria workshop. The agreement is a list of six prioritized timetable evaluation and optimization criteria. To make the evaluation criteria quantifiable, a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) was developed for each criterion. A total of 13 KPIs are presented. Their practical applicability has been successfully tested on examples of real-life Danish timetables. The thesis recommends a revised timetabling process at railway infrastructure manager Rail Net Denmark (in Danish: Banedanmark) that will take the recommended KPIs into consideration. This new time-tabling process will create the necessary foundation for improving future railway timetable attractiveness in Denmark. The aim and the structure of this PhD thesis are described in Chapter 1. The thesis shows how railway traffic and the railway timetable have been interlocked almost from the opening of the first public railway line in 1825. A timetable increases both the traffic safety and the attractiveness of railways. Timetables plan traffic, avoid train collisions, and announce train services to potential customers. Chapter 2 gives an introduction to railway timetables. The thesis identifies a need for an improved European definition of a railway timetable. A two-part definition is introduced, with one part covering a liberalized railway sector and the other covering a state-owned or completely privately owned railway monopoly. The former is an agreement between an infrastructure manager and one or more train operating companies. The latter is an internal company agreement. This is followed by the presentation of some basic facts that apply to all railway timetables. A railway timetable has a time period of validity. In the European Union this has been harmonized to one year and the