@misc{BreugemBorndoerferSchlechteetal.2019, author = {Breugem, Thomas and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas and Schulz, Christof}, title = {A Three-Phase Heuristic for Cyclic Crew Rostering with Fairness Requirements}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-74297}, year = {2019}, abstract = {In this paper, we consider the Cyclic Crew Rostering Problem with Fairness Requirements (CCRP-FR). In this problem, attractive cyclic rosters have to be constructed for groups of employees, considering multiple, a priori determined, fairness levels. The attractiveness follows from the structure of the rosters (e.g., sufficient rest times and variation in work), whereas fairness is based on the work allocation among the different roster groups. We propose a three-phase heuristic for the CCRP-FR, which combines the strength of column generation techniques with a large-scale neighborhood search algorithm. The design of the heuristic assures that good solutions for all fairness levels are obtained quickly, and can still be further improved if additional running time is available. We evaluate the performance of the algorithm using real-world data from Netherlands Railways, and show that the heuristic finds close to optimal solutions for many of the considered instances. In particular, we show that the heuristic is able to quickly find major improvements upon the current sequential practice: For most instances, the heuristic is able to increase the attractiveness by at least 20\% in just a few minutes.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferErolGraffagninoetal.2010, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Erol, Berkan and Graffagnino, Thomas and Schlechte, Thomas and Swarat, Elmar}, title = {Aggregation Methods for Railway Networks}, organization = {Zuse Institut Berlin}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11881}, number = {10-23}, year = {2010}, abstract = {In this paper a bottom-up approach of automatic simplification of a railway network is presented. Starting from a very detailed, microscopic level, as it is used in railway simulation, the network is transformed by an algorithm to a less detailed level (macroscopic network), that is sufficient for long-term planning and optimization. In addition running and headway times are rounded to a pre-chosen time discretization by a special cumulative method, which we will present and analyse in this paper. After the transformation we fill the network with given train requests to compute an optimal slot allocation. Then the optimized schedule is re-transformed into the microscopic level and can be simulated without any conflicts occuring between the slots. The algorithm is used to transform the network of the very dense Simplon corridor between Swiss and Italy. With our aggregation it is possible for the first time to generate a profit maximal and conflict free timetable for the corridor across a day by a simultaneously optimization run.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferErolGraffagninoetal.2010, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Erol, Berkan and Graffagnino, Thomas and Schlechte, Thomas and Swarat, Elmar}, title = {Optimizing the Simplon Railway Corridor}, organization = {Zuse Institut Berlin}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {10.1007/s10479-012-1260-9}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11892}, number = {10-24}, year = {2010}, abstract = {This paper presents a case study on a railway timetable optimization for the very dense Simplon corridor, a major railway connection in the Alps between Switzerland and Italy. Starting from a detailed microscopic network as it is used in railway simulation, the data is transformed by an automatic procedure to a less detailed macroscopic network, that is sufficient for the purpose of capacity planning and amenable to state-of-the-art integer programming optimization methods. In this way, the macroscopic railway network is saturated with trains. Finally, the corresponding timetable is re-transformed to the microscopic level in such a way that it can be operated without any conflicts among the slots. Using this integer programming based micro-macro aggregation-disaggregation approach, it becomes for the first time possible to generate a profit maximal and conflict free timetable for the complete Simplon corridor over an entire day by a simultaneous optimization of all trains requests. This also allows to to undertake a sensitivity analysis of various problem parameters.}, language = {en} } @article{SchlechteBorndoerferEroletal.2011, author = {Schlechte, Thomas and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Erol, Berkan and Graffagnino, Thomas and Swarat, Elmar}, title = {Micro-macro transformation of railway networks}, volume = {1}, journal = {Journal of Rail Transport Planning \& Management}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1016/j.jrtpm.2011.09.001}, pages = {38 -- 48}, year = {2011}, abstract = {In this paper a bottom-up approach of automatic simplification of a railway network is presented. Starting from a very detailed, microscopic level, as it is used in railway simulation, the network is transformed by an algorithm to a less detailed level (macroscopic network), that is sufficient for long-term planning and optimization. In addition running and headway times are rounded to a pre-chosen time discretization by a special cumulative method, which we will present and analyse in this paper. After the transformation we fill the network with given train requests to compute an optimal slot allocation. Then the optimized schedule is re-transformed into the microscopic level and can be simulated without any conflicts occuring between the slots. The algorithm is used to transform the network of the very dense Simplon corridor between Swiss and Italy. With our aggregation it is possible for the first time to generate a profit maximal and conflict free timetable for the corridor across a day by a simultaneously optimization run.}, language = {en} } @article{BorndoerferErolGraffagninoetal.2012, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Erol, Berkan and Graffagnino, Thomas and Schlechte, Thomas and Swarat, Elmar}, title = {Optimizing the Simplon railway corridor}, volume = {218}, journal = {Annals of Operations Research}, number = {1}, edition = {Annals of Operations Research}, publisher = {Springer US}, doi = {10.1007/s10479-012-1260-9}, pages = {93 -- 106}, year = {2012}, language = {en} } @article{BreugemSchlechteSchulzetal.2023, author = {Breugem, Thomas and Schlechte, Thomas and Schulz, Christof and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf}, title = {A three-phase heuristic for the Fairness-Oriented Crew Rostering Problem}, volume = {154}, journal = {Computers \& Operations Research}, doi = {10.1016/j.cor.2023.106186}, pages = {106186}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The Fairness-Oriented Crew Rostering Problem (FCRP) considers the joint optimization of attractiveness and fairness in cyclic crew rostering. Like many problems in scheduling and logistics, the combinatorial complexity of cyclic rostering causes exact methods to fail for large-scale practical instances. In case of the FCRP, this is accentuated by the additionally imposed fairness requirements. Hence, heuristic methods are necessary. We present a three-phase heuristic for the FCRP combining column generation techniques with variable-depth neighborhood search. The heuristic exploits different mathematical formulations to find feasible solutions and to search for improvements. We apply our methodology to practical instances from Netherlands Railways (NS), the main passenger railway operator in the Netherlands Our results show the three-phase heuristic finds good solutions for most instances and outperforms a state-of-the-art commercial solver.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferGrimmReutheretal.2016, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Grimm, Boris and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Optimization of Handouts for Rolling Stock Rotations Visualization}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-61430}, year = {2016}, abstract = {A railway operator creates (rolling stock) rotations in order to have a precise master plan for the operation of a timetable by railway vehicles. A rotation is considered as a cycle that multiply traverses a set of operational days while covering trips of the timetable. As it is well known, the proper creation of rolling stock rotations by, e.g., optimization algorithms is challenging and still a topical research subject. Nevertheless, we study a completely different but strongly related question in this paper, i.e.: How to visualize a rotation? For this purpose, we introduce a basic handout concept, which directly leads to the visualization, i.e., handout of a rotation. In our industrial application at DB Fernverkehr AG, the handout is exactly as important as the rotation itself. Moreover, it turns out that also other European railway operators use exactly the same methodology (but not terminology). Since a rotation can have many handouts of different quality, we show how to compute optimal ones through an integer program (IP) by standard software. In addition, a construction as well as an improvement heuristic are presented. Our computational results show that the heuristics are a very reliable standalone approach to quickly find near-optimal and even optimal handouts. The efficiency of the heuristics is shown via a computational comparison to the IP approach.}, language = {en} } @article{HarrodSchlechte2013, author = {Harrod, Steven and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {A Direct Comparison of Physical Block Occupancy Versus Timed Block Occupancy in Train Timetabling Formulations}, volume = {54}, journal = {Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review}, doi = {10.1016/j.tre.2013.04.003}, pages = {50 -- 66}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Two fundamental mathematical formulations for railway timetabling are compared on a common set of sample problems, representing both multiple track high density services in Europe and single track bidirectional operations in North America. One formulation, ACP, enforces against conflicts by constraining time intervals between trains, while the other formulation, RCHF, monitors physical occupation of controlled track segments. The results demonstrate that both ACP and RCHF return comparable solutions in the aggregate, with some significant differences in select instances, and a pattern of significant differences in performance and constraint enforcement overall.}, language = {en} } @misc{SahinAhmadiBorndoerferetal.2019, author = {Sahin, Guvenc and Ahmadi, Amin and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Multi-Period Line Planning with Resource Transfers}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-74662}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Urban transportation systems are subject to a high level of variation and fluctuation in demand over the day. When this variation and fluctuation are observed in both time and space, it is crucial to develop line plans that are responsive to demand. A multi-period line planning approach that considers a changing demand during the planning horizon is proposed. If such systems are also subject to limitations of resources, a dynamic transfer of resources from one line to another throughout the planning horizon should also be considered. A mathematical modelling framework is developed to solve the line planning problem with transfer of resources during a finite length planning horizon of multiple periods. We analyze whether or not multi-period solutions outperform single period solutions in terms of feasibility and relevant costs. The importance of demand variation on multi-period solutions is investigated. We evaluate the impact of resource transfer constraints on the effectiveness of solutions. We also study the effect of line type designs and question the choice of period lengths along with the problem parameters that are significant for and sensitive to the optimality of solutions.}, language = {en} } @misc{GrimmBorndoerferSchlechte2019, author = {Grimm, Boris and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Re-optimizing ICE Rotations after a Tunnel Breakdown near Rastatt}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-73976}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Planning rolling stock movements in industrial passenger railway applications isa long-term process based on timetables which are also often valid for long periods of time. For these timetables and rotation plans, i.e., plans of railway vehicle movements are constructed as templates for these periods. During operation the rotation plans are affected by all kinds of unplanned events. An unusal example for that is the collapse of a tunnel ceiling near Rastatt in southern Germany due to construction works related to the renewal of the central station in Stuttgart. As a result the main railway connection between Stuttgart and Frankfurt am Main, located on top of the tunnel, had to be closed from August 12th to October 2nd 2017. This had a major impact on the railway network in southern Germany. Hence, all rotation plans and train schedules for both passenger and cargo traffic had to be revised. In this paper we focus on a case study for this situation and compute new rotation plans via mixed integer programming for the ICE high speed fleet of DB Fernverkehr AG one of the largest passenger railway companies in Europe. In our approach we take care of some side constraints to ensure a smooth continuation of the rotation plans after the disruption has ended.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferGrimmSchlechte2019, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Grimm, Boris and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Re-optimizing ICE Rotations after a Tunnel Breakdown near Rastatt}, volume = {Link{\"o}ping Electronic Conference Proceedings}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis - RailNorrk{\"o}ping 2019}, number = {069}, publisher = {Link{\"o}ping University Electronic Press, Link{\"o}pings universitet}, address = {Link{\"o}ping, Sweden}, isbn = {978-91-7929-992-7}, issn = {1650-3686}, pages = {160 -- 168}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Planning rolling stock movements in industrial passenger railway applications isa long-term process based on timetables which are also often valid for long periods of time. For these timetables and rotation plans, i.e., plans of railway vehicle movements are constructed as templates for these periods. During operation the rotation plans are affected by all kinds of unplanned events. An unusal example for that is the collapse of a tunnel ceiling near Rastatt in southern Germany due to construction works related to the renewal of the central station in Stuttgart. As a result the main railway connection between Stuttgart and Frankfurt am Main, located on top of the tunnel, had to be closed from August 12th to October 2nd 2017. This had a major impact on the railway network in southern Germany. Hence, all rotation plans and train schedules for both passenger and cargo traffic had to be revised. In this paper we focus on a case study for this situation and compute new rotation plans via mixed integer programming for the ICE high speed fleet of DB Fernverkehr AG one of the largest passenger railway companies in Europe. In our approach we take care of some side constraints to ensure a smooth continuation of the rotation plans after the disruption has ended.}, language = {en} } @article{BorndoerferGrimmReutheretal.2019, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Grimm, Boris and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Optimization of handouts for rolling stock rotations}, journal = {Journal of Rail Transport Planning \& Management}, number = {10}, doi = {10.1016/j.jrtpm.2019.02.001}, pages = {1 -- 8}, year = {2019}, abstract = {A railway operator creates (rolling stock) rotations in order to have a precise master plan for the operation of a timetable by railway vehicles. A rotation is considered as a cycle that multiply traverses a set of operational days while covering trips of the timetable. As it is well known, the proper creation of rolling stock rotations by, e.g., optimization algorithms is challenging and still a topical research subject. Nevertheless, we study a completely different but strongly related question in this paper, i.e.: How to visualize a rotation? For this purpose, we introduce a basic handout concept, which directly leads to the visualization, i.e., handout of a rotation. In our industrial application at DB Fernverkehr AG, the handout is exactly as important as the rotation itself. Moreover, it turns out that also other European railway operators use exactly the same methodology (but not terminology). Since a rotation can have many handouts of different quality, we show how to compute optimal ones through an integer program (IP) by standard software. In addition, a construction as well as an improvement heuristic are presented. Our computational results show that the heuristics are a very reliable standalone approach to quickly find near-optimal and even optimal handouts. The efficiency of the heuristics is shown via a computational comparison to the IP approach.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BertholdGrimmReutheretal.2019, author = {Berthold, Timo and Grimm, Boris and Reuther, Markus and Schade, Stanley and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Strategic Planning of Rolling Stock Rotations for Public Tenders}, volume = {Link{\"o}ping Electronic Conference Proceedings}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis - RailNorrköping 2019}, number = {069}, publisher = {Link{\"o}ping University Electronic Press, Link{\"o}pings universitet}, isbn = {978-91-7929-992-7}, issn = {1650-3686}, pages = {148 -- 159}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Since railway companies have to apply for long-term public contracts to operate railway lines in public tenders, the question how they can estimate the operating cost for long-term periods adequately arises naturally. We consider a rolling stock rotation problem for a time period of ten years, which is based on a real world instance provided by an industry partner. We use a two stage approach for the cost estimation of the required rolling stock. In the first stage, we determine a weekly rotation plan. In the second stage, we roll out this weekly rotation plan for a longer time period and incorporate scheduled maintenance treatments. We present a heuristic approach and a mixed integer programming model to implement the process of the second stage. Finally, we discuss computational results for a real world tendering scenario.}, language = {en} } @book{AbbinkBaermannBešinovicetal.2018, author = {Abbink, Erwin and B{\"a}rmann, Andreas and Bešinovic, Nikola and Bohlin, Markus and Cacchiani, Valentina and Caimi, Gabrio and de Fabris, Stefano and Dollevoet, Twan and Fischer, Frank and F{\"u}genschuh, Armin and Galli, Laura and Goverde, Rob M.P. and Hansmann, Ronny and Homfeld, Henning and Huisman, Dennis and Johann, Marc and Klug, Torsten and T{\"o}rnquist Krasemann, Johanna and Kroon, Leo and Lamorgese, Leonardo and Liers, Frauke and Mannino, Carlo and Medeossi, Giorgio and Pacciarelli, Dario and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas and Schmidt, Marie and Sch{\"o}bel, Anita and Sch{\"u}lldorf, Hanno and Stieber, Anke and Stiller, Sebastian and Toth, Paolo and Zimmermann, Uwe}, title = {Handbook of Optimization in the Railway Industry}, volume = {268}, editor = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Klug, Torsten and Lamorgese, Leonardo and Mannino, Carlo and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas}, publisher = {Springer Verlag}, isbn = {978-3-319-72152-1}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-72153-8}, year = {2018}, abstract = {This book promotes the use of mathematical optimization and operations research methods in rail transportation. The editors assembled thirteen contributions from leading scholars to present a unified voice, standardize terminology, and assess the state-of-the-art. There are three main clusters of articles, corresponding to the classical stages of the planning process: strategic, tactical, and operational. These three clusters are further subdivided into five parts which correspond to the main phases of the railway network planning process: network assessment, capacity planning, timetabling, resource planning, and operational planning. Individual chapters cover: Simulation Capacity Assessment Network Design Train Routing Robust Timetabling Event Scheduling Track Allocation Blocking Shunting Rolling Stock Crew Scheduling Dispatching Delay Propagation}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferReutherSchlechteetal.2011, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas and Weider, Steffen}, title = {A Hypergraph Model for Railway Vehicle Rotation Planning}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2011.146}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-32746}, number = {11-36}, year = {2011}, abstract = {We propose a model for the integrated optimization of vehicle rotations and vehicle compositions in long distance railway passenger transport. The main contribution of the paper is a hypergraph model that is able to handle the challenging technical requirements as well as very general stipulations with respect to the ``regularity'' of a schedule. The hypergraph model directly generalizes network flow models, replacing arcs with hyperarcs. Although NP-hard in general, the model is computationally well-behaved in practice. High quality solutions can be produced in reasonable time using high performance Integer Programming techniques, in particular, column generation and rapid branching. We show that, in this way, large-scale real world instances of our cooperation partner DB Fernverkehr can be solved.}, language = {en} } @misc{GrimmBorndoerferReutheretal.2020, author = {Grimm, Boris and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {A Cut Separation Approach for the Rolling Stock Rotation Problem with Vehicle Maintenance}, journal = {19th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2019)}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2019.1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-75501}, year = {2020}, abstract = {For providing railway services the company's railway rolling stock is one if not the most important ingredient. It decides about the number of passenger or cargo trips the company can offer, about the quality a passenger experiences the train ride and it is often related to the image of the company itself. Thus, it is highly desired to have the available rolling stock in the best shape possible. Moreover, in many countries, as Germany where our industrial partner DB Fernverkehr AG (DBF) is located, laws enforce regular vehicle inspections to ensure the safety of the passengers. This leads to rolling stock optimization problems with complex rules for vehicle maintenance. This problem is well studied in the literature for example see Maroti and Kroon 2005, or Cordeau et. al. 2001 for applications including vehicle maintenance. The contribution of this paper is a new algorithmic approach to solve the Rolling Stock Rotation Problem for the ICE high speed train fleet of DBF with included vehicle maintenance. It is based on a relaxation of a mixed integer linear programming model with an iterative cut generation to enforce the feasibility of a solution of the relaxation in the solution space of the original problem. The resulting mixed integer linear programming model is based on a hypergraph approach presented in Bornd{\"o}rfer et. al. 2015. The new approach is tested on real world instances modeling different scenarios for the ICE high speed train network in Germany and compared to the approaches of Reuther 2017 that are in operation at DB Fernverkehr AG. The approach shows a significant reduction of the run time to produce solutions with comparable or even better objective function values.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{GrimmBorndoerferReutheretal.2019, author = {Grimm, Boris and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {A Cut Separation Approach for the Rolling Stock Rotation Problem with Vehicle Maintenance}, volume = {75}, booktitle = {19th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2019)}, editor = {Cacchiani, Valentina and Marchetti-Spaccamela, Alberto}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2019.1}, pages = {1:1 -- 1:12}, year = {2019}, abstract = {For providing railway services the company's railway rolling stock is one if not the most important ingredient. It decides about the number of passenger or cargo trips the company can offer, about the quality a passenger experiences the train ride and it is often related to the image of the company itself. Thus, it is highly desired to have the available rolling stock in the best shape possible. Moreover, in many countries, as Germany where our industrial partner DB Fernverkehr AG (DBF) is located, laws enforce regular vehicle inspections to ensure the safety of the passengers. This leads to rolling stock optimization problems with complex rules for vehicle maintenance. This problem is well studied in the literature for example see [Mar{\´o}ti and Kroon, 2005; G{\´a}bor Mar{\´o}ti and Leo G. Kroon, 2007], or [Cordeau et al., 2001] for applications including vehicle maintenance. The contribution of this paper is a new algorithmic approach to solve the Rolling Stock Rotation Problem for the ICE high speed train fleet of DBF with included vehicle maintenance. It is based on a relaxation of a mixed integer linear programming model with an iterative cut generation to enforce the feasibility of a solution of the relaxation in the solution space of the original problem. The resulting mixed integer linear programming model is based on a hypergraph approach presented in [Ralf Bornd{\"o}rfer et al., 2015]. The new approach is tested on real world instances modeling different scenarios for the ICE high speed train network in Germany and compared to the approaches of [Reuther, 2017] that are in operation at DB Fernverkehr AG. The approach shows a significant reduction of the run time to produce solutions with comparable or even better objective function values.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferKarbsteinMehrgahrdtetal.2016, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Karbstein, Marika and Mehrgahrdt, Julika and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {The Cycle Embedding Problem}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2014}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-28697-6_65}, pages = {465 -- 472}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Given two hypergraphs, representing a fine and a coarse "layer", and a cycle cover of the nodes of the coarse layer, the cycle embedding problem (CEP) asks for an embedding of the coarse cycles into the fine layer. The CEP is NP-hard for general hypergraphs, but it can be solved in polynomial time for graphs. We propose an integer rogramming formulation for the CEP that provides a complete escription of the CEP polytope for the graphical case. The CEP comes up in railway vehicle rotation scheduling. We present computational results for problem instances of DB Fernverkehr AG that justify a sequential coarse-first-fine-second planning approach.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{RenkenAhmadiBorndoerferetal.2018, author = {Renken, Malte and Ahmadi, Amin and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Sahin, Guvenc and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Demand-Driven Line Planning with Selfish Routing}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-89920-6_91}, pages = {687 -- 692}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Bus rapid transit systems in developing and newly industrialized countries are often operated at the limits of passenger capacity. In particular, demand during morning and afternoon peaks is hardly or even not covered with available line plans. In order to develop demand-driven line plans, we use two mathematical models in the form of integer programming problem formulations. While the actual demand data is specified with origin-destination pairs, the arc-based model considers the demand over the arcs derived from the origin-destination demand. In order to test the accuracy of the models in terms of demand satisfaction, we simulate the optimal solutions and compare number of transfers and travel times. We also question the effect of a selfish route choice behavior which in theory results in a Braess-like paradox by increasing the number of transfers when system capacity is increased with additional lines.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SchadeSchlechteWitzig2018, author = {Schade, Stanley and Schlechte, Thomas and Witzig, Jakob}, title = {Structure-based Decomposition for Pattern-Detection for Railway Timetables}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-89920-6_95}, pages = {715 -- 721}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We consider the problem of pattern detection in large scale railway timetables. This problem arises in rolling stock optimization planning in order to identify invariant sections of the timetable for which a cyclic rotation plan is adequate. We propose a dual reduction technique which leads to an decomposition and enumeration method. Computational results for real world instances demonstrate that the method is able to produce optimal solutions as fast as standard MIP solvers.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferBreuerGrimmetal.2018, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Breuer, Matthias and Grimm, Boris and Reuther, Markus and Schade, Stanley and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Timetable Sparsification by Rolling Stock Rotation Optimization}, booktitle = {Operations Research 2017}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-89920-6_96}, pages = {723 -- 728}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Rolling stock optimization is a task that naturally arises by operating a railway system. It could be seen with different level of details. From a strategic perspective to have a rough plan which types of fleets to be bought to a more operational perspective to decide which coaches have to be maintained first. This paper presents a new approach to deal with rolling stock optimisation in case of a (long term) strike. Instead of constructing a completely new timetable for the strike period, we propose a mixed integer programming model that is able to choose appropriate trips from a given timetable to construct efficient tours of railway vehicles covering an optimized subset of trips, in terms of deadhead kilometers and importance of the trips. The decision which trip is preferred over the other is made by a simple evaluation method that is deduced from the network and trip defining data.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferScheltenSchlechteetal.2005, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schelten, Uwe and Schlechte, Thomas and Weider, Steffen}, title = {A Column Generation Approach to Airline Crew Scheduling}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-8713}, number = {05-37}, year = {2005}, abstract = {The airline crew scheduling problem deals with the construction of crew rotations in order to cover the flights of a given schedule at minimum cost. The problem involves complex rules for the legality and costs of individual pairings and base constraints for the availability of crews at home bases. A typical instance considers a planning horizon of one month and several thousand flights. We propose a column generation approach for solving airline crew scheduling problems that is based on a set partitioning model. We discuss algorithmic aspects such as the use of bundle techniques for the fast, approximate solution of linear programs, a pairing generator that combines Lagrangean shortest path and callback techniques, and a novel rapid branching'' IP heuristic. Computational results for a number of industrial instances are reported. Our approach has been implemented within the commercial crew scheduling system NetLine/Crew of Lufthansa Systems Berlin GmbH.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Schlechte2012, author = {Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Railway Track Allocation: Models and Algorithms}, publisher = {S{\"u}dwestdeutscher Verlag f{\"u}r Hochschulschriften}, address = {Saarbr{\"u}cken, Germany}, isbn = {978-3-8381-3222-8}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:83-opus-34272}, school = {Technische Universit{\"a}t Berlin}, pages = {239}, year = {2012}, abstract = {This thesis is about mathematical optimization for the efficient use of railway infrastructure. We address the optimal allocation of the available railway track capacity - the track allocation problem. This track allocation problem is a major challenge for a railway company, independent of whether a free market, a private monopoly, or a public monopoly is given. Planning and operating railway transportation systems is extremely hard due to the combinatorial complexity of the underlying discrete optimization problems, the technical intricacies, and the immense sizes of the problem instances. Mathematical models and optimization techniques can result in huge gains for both railway customers and operators, e.g., in terms of cost reductions or service quality improvements. We tackle this challenge by developing novel mathematical models and associated innovative algorithmic solution methods for large scale instances. This allows us to produce for the first time reliable solutions for a real world instance, i.e., the Simplon corridor in Switzerland. The opening chapter gives a comprehensive overview on railway planning problems. This provides insights into the regulatory and technical framework, it discusses the interaction of several planning steps, and identifies optimization potentials in railway transportation. The remainder of the thesis is comprised of two major parts. The first part is concerned with modeling railway systems to allow for resource and capacity analysis. Railway capacity has basically two dimensions, a space dimension which are the physical infrastructure elements as well as a time dimension that refers to the train movements, i.e., occupation or blocking times, on the physical infrastructure. Railway safety systems operate on the same principle all over the world. A train has to reserve infrastructure blocks for some time to pass through. Two trains reserving the same block of the infrastructure within the same point in time is called block conflict. Therefore, models for railway capacity involve the definition and calculation of reasonable running and associated reservation and blocking times to allow for a conflict free allocation. In the second and main part of the thesis, the optimal track allocation problem for macroscopic models of the railway system is considered. The literature for related problems is surveyed. A graph-theoretic model for the track allocation problem is developed. In that model optimal track allocations correspond to conflict-free paths in special time-expanded graphs. Furthermore, we made considerable progress on solving track allocation problems by two main features - a novel modeling approach for the macroscopic track allocation problem and algorithmic improvements based on the utilization of the bundle method. Finally, we go back to practice and present in the last chapter several case studies using the tools netcast and tsopt. We provide a computational comparison of our new models and standard packing models used in the literature. Our computational experience indicates that our approach, i.e., ``configuration models'', outperforms other models. Moreover, the rapid branching heuristic and the bundle method enable us to produce high quality solutions for very large scale instances, which has not been possible before. In addition, we present results for a theoretical and rather visionary auction framework for track allocation. We discuss several auction design questions and analyze experiments of various auction simulations. The highlights are results for the Simplon corridor in Switzerland. We optimized the train traffic through this tunnel using our models and software tools. To the best knowledge of the author and confirmed by several railway practitioners this was the first time that fully automatically produced track allocations on a macroscopic scale fulfill the requirements of the originating microscopic model, withstand the evaluation in the microscopic simulation tool OpenTrack, and exploit the infrastructure capacity. This documents the success of our approach in practice and the usefulness and applicability of mathematical optimization to railway track allocation.}, language = {en} } @article{BorndoerferGroetschelLukacetal.2006, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Gr{\"o}tschel, Martin and Lukac, Sascha and Mitusch, Kay and Schlechte, Thomas and Schultz, S{\"o}ren and Tanner, Andreas}, title = {An Auctioning Approach to Railway Slot Allocation}, volume = {1}, journal = {Competition and Regulation in Network Industries}, number = {2}, pages = {163 -- 196}, year = {2006}, language = {en} }