@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} } @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{OPUS4-7166, title = {Proceedings of the 18th Workshop on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems}, editor = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Storandt, Sabine}, publisher = {Dagstuhl Publishing, Saarbr{\"u}cken/Wadern, Germany}, isbn = {ISBN 978-3-95977-096-5}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2018.0}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Running and optimizing transportation systems give rise to very complex and large-scale optimization problems requiring innovative solution techniques and ideas from mathematical optimization, theoretical computer science, and operations research. Since 2000, the series of Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS) workshops brings together researchers and practitioners who are interested in all aspects of algorithmic methods and models for transportation optimization and provides a forum for the exchange and dissemination of new ideas and techniques. The scope of ATMOS comprises all modes of transportation. The 18th ATMOS workshop (ATMOS'18) was held in connection with ALGO'18 and hosted by Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, on August 23-24, 2018. Topics of interest were all optimization problems for passenger and freight transport, including, but not limited to, demand forecasting, models for user behavior, design of pricing systems, infrastructure planning, multi-modal transport optimization, mobile applications for transport, congestion modelling and reduction, line planning, timetable generation, routing and platform assignment, vehicle scheduling, route planning, crew and duty scheduling, rostering, delay management, routing in road networks, traffic guidance, and electro mobility. Of particular interest were papers applying and advancing techniques like graph and network algorithms, combinatorial optimization, mathematical programming, approximation algorithms, methods for the integration of planning stages, stochastic and robust optimization, online and real-time algorithms, algorithmic game theory, heuristics for real-world instances, and simulation tools. There were twenty-nine submissions from eighteen countries. All of them were reviewed by at least three referees in ninety-one reviews, among them five external ones, and judged on their originality, technical quality, and relevance to the topics of the workshop. Based on the reviews, the program committee selected sixteen submissions to be presented at the workshop (acceptance rate: 55\%), which are collected in this volume in the order in which they were presented. Together, they quite impressively demonstrate the range of applicability of algorithmic optimization to transportation problems in a wide sense. In addition, Dennis Huisman kindly agreed to complement the program with an invited talk on Railway Disruption Management: State-of-the-art in practice and new research directions. Based on the reviews, Ralf Bornd{\"o}rfer, Marika Karbstein, Christian Liebchen, and Niels Lindner won the Best Paper Award of ATMOS'18 with their paper A simple way to compute the number of vehicles that Are required to operate a periodic timetable. In addition, we awarded Tomas Lid{\´e}n the Best VGI Paper Award of ATMOS'18 for his paper Reformulations for railway traffic and maintenance planning. We would like to thank the members of the Steering Committee of ATMOS for giving us the opportunity to serve as Program Chairs of ATMOS'18, all the authors who submitted papers, Dennis Huisman for accepting our invitation to present an invited talk, the members of the Program Committee and the additional reviewers for their valuable work in selecting the papers appearing in this volume, our sponsors MODAL, TomTom, and VGIscience for their support of the prizes, and the local organizers for hosting the workshop as part of ALGO'18. We acknowledge the use of the EasyChair system for the great help in managing the submission and review processes, and Schloss Dagstuhl for publishing the proceedings of ATMOS'18 in its OASIcs series.}, 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} } @misc{Schlechte2011, author = {Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Railway Track Allocation - Simulation and Optimization}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-13632}, number = {11-32}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Today the railway timetabling process and the track allocation is one of the most challenging problems to solve by a railway infrastructure provider. Especially due to the deregulation of the transport market in the recent years several suppliers of railway traffic have entered the market. This leads to an increase of slot requests and then it is natural that conflicts occur among them. Furthermore, railway infrastructure networks consist of very expensive assets, even more they are rigid due to the long-term upgrade process. In order to make best use of these valuable infrastructure and to ensure economic operation, efficient planning of the railway operation is indispensable. Mathematical optimization models and algorithmic methodology can help to automatize and tackle these challenges. Our contribution in this paper is to present a renewed planning process due to the liberalization in Europe and a general framework to support the integration of simulation and optimization for railway capacity allocation.}, language = {en} } @misc{Schlechte2012, author = {Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Railway Track Allocation}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-16402}, year = {2012}, abstract = {This article gives an overview of the results of the author's PhD thesis. The thesis deals with the 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. 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. This allows us to produce for the first time reliable solutions for a real world instance, i.e., the Simplon corridor in Switzerland.}, 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{BorndoerferSchlechteWeider2010, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas and Weider, Steffen}, title = {Railway Track Allocation by Rapid Branching}, organization = {Zuse Institut Berlin}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11864}, number = {10-22}, year = {2010}, abstract = {The track allocation problem, also known as train routing problem or train timetabling problem, is to find a conflict-free set of train routes of maximum value in a railway network. Although it can be modeled as a standard path packing problem, instances of sizes relevant for real-world railway applications could not be solved up to now. We propose a rapid branching column generation approach that integrates the solution of the LP relaxation of a path coupling formulation of the problem with a special rounding heuristic. The approach is based on and exploits special properties of the bundle method for the approximate solution of convex piecewise linear functions. Computational results for difficult instances of the benchmark library TTPLIB are reported.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{Schlechte2012, author = {Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Railway Track Allocation}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-00795-314}, pages = {15 -- 20}, year = {2012}, language = {en} } @article{BorndoerferLoebelReutheretal.2013, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and L{\"o}bel, Andreas and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas and Weider, Steffen}, title = {Rapid Branching}, volume = {5}, journal = {Public Transport}, number = {1}, editor = {Mu{\~n}oz, J. C. and Voß, S.}, publisher = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg}, pages = {3 -- 23}, year = {2013}, abstract = {We propose rapid branching (RB) as a general branch-and-bound heuristic for solving large scale optimization problems in traffic and transport. The key idea is to combine a special branching rule and a greedy node selection strategy in order to produce solutions of controlled quality rapidly and efficiently. We report on three successful applications of the method for integrated vehicle and crew scheduling, railway track allocation, and railway vehicle rotation planning.}, language = {en} } @article{BorndoerferSchlechteSwarat2012, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas and Swarat, Elmar}, title = {Railway Track Allocation -- Simulation, Aggregation, and Optimization}, volume = {2}, journal = {Proc. 1st International Workshop on High-speed and Intercity Railways (IWHIR 2011)}, number = {148}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-27963-8}, pages = {53 -- 70}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Today the railway timetabling process and the track allocation is one of the most challenging problems to solve by a railway company. Especially due to the deregulation of the transport market in the recent years several suppliers of railway traffic have entered the market in Europe. This leads to more potential conflicts between trains caused by an increasing demand of train paths. 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 size of the problem instances. In order to make best use of the infrastructure and to ensure economic operation, efficient planning of the railway operation is indispensable. Mathematical optimization models and algorithms can help to automatize and tackle these challenges. Our contribution in this paper is to present a renewed planning process due to the liberalization in Europe and an associated concept for track allocation, that consists of three important parts, simulation, aggregation, and optimization. Furthermore, we present results of our general framework for real world data.}, language = {en} } @article{Schlechte2011, author = {Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Railway Track Allocation - Simulation and Optimization}, volume = {4}, journal = {Proceedings of 4th International Seminar on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis (IAROR)}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Today the railway timetabling process and the track allocation is one of the most challenging problems to solve by a railway infrastructure provider. Especially due to the deregulation of the transport market in the recent years several suppliers of railway traffic have entered the market. This leads to an increase of slot requests and then it is natural that conflicts occur among them. Furthermore, railway infrastructure networks consist of very expensive assets, even more they are rigid due to the long-term upgrade process. In order to make best use of these valuable infrastructure and to ensure economic operation, efficient planning of the railway operation is indispensable. Mathematical optimization models and algorithmic methodology can help to automatize and tackle these challenges. Our contribution in this paper is to present a renewed planning process due to the liberalization in Europe and a general framework to support the integration of simulation and optimization for railway capacity allocation.}, 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} } @misc{BlancoSchlechte2013, author = {Blanco, Marco and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Analysis of Micro-Macro Transformations of Railway Networks}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-42710}, year = {2013}, abstract = {A common technique in the solution of large or complex optimization problems is the use of micro-macro transformations. In this paper, we carry out a theoretical analysis of such transformations for the track allocation problem in railway networks. We prove that the cumulative rounding technique of Schlechte et al. satisfies two of three natural optimality criteria and that this performance cannot be improved. We also show that under extreme circumstances, this technique can perform inconvieniently by underestimating the global optimal value.}, 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} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferErolSchlechte2009, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Erol, Berkan and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Optimization of macroscopic train schedules via TS-OPT}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 3rd International Seminar on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis - Engineering and Optimisation Approaches}, editor = {Hansen, I. and Wendler, E. and Weidmann, U. and L{\"u}thi, M. and Rodriguez, J. and Ricci, S. and Kroon, Leo}, address = {Z{\"u}rich, Switzerland}, year = {2009}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SchlechteTanner2010, author = {Schlechte, Thomas and Tanner, Andreas}, title = {Railway capacity auctions with dual prices}, booktitle = {Selected Proceedings of the 12th World Conference on Transport Research}, year = {2010}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{ErolKlemenzSchlechteetal.2008, author = {Erol, Berkan and Klemenz, Marc and Schlechte, Thomas and Schultz, S{\"o}ren and Tanner, Andreas}, title = {TTPlib 2008 - A Library for Train Timetabling Problems}, booktitle = {Computers in Railways XI}, editor = {Tomii, A. and Allan, J. and Arias, E. and Brebbia, C. and Goodman, C. and Rumsey, A. and Sciutto, G.}, publisher = {WIT Press}, year = {2008}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferSchlechte2007, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Models for Railway Track Allocation}, volume = {07001}, booktitle = {ATMOS 2007 - 7th Workshop on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modeling, Optimization, and Systems}, editor = {Liebchen, Christian and Ahuja, Ravindra and Mesa, Juan}, publisher = {Internationales Begegnungs- und Forschungszentrum f{\"u}r Informatik (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany}, year = {2007}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferSchlechte2008, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Balancing Efficiency and Robustness}, booktitle = {MCDM for Sustainable Energy and Transportation Systems}, editor = {Ehrgott, Matthias and Naujoks, Boris and Stewart, Theo and Wallenius, Jyrki}, publisher = {Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems}, year = {2008}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{FischerSchlechte2017, author = {Fischer, Frank and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Strong Relaxations for the Train Timetabling Problem using Connected Configurations}, volume = {59}, booktitle = {17th Workshop on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2017)}, editor = {D'Angelo, Gianlorenzo and Dollevoet, Twan}, isbn = {978-3-95977-042-2}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2017.11}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The task of the train timetabling problem or track allocation problem is to find conflict free schedules for a set of trains with predefined routes in a railway network. Especially for non-periodic instances models based on time expanded networks are often used. Unfortunately, the linear programming relaxation of these models is often extremely weak because these models do not describe combinatorial relations like overtaking possibilities very well. In this paper we extend the model by so called connected configuration subproblems. These subproblems perfectly describe feasible schedules of a small subset of trains (2-3) on consecutive track segments. In a Lagrangian relaxation approach we solve several of these subproblems together in order to produce solutions which consist of combinatorially compatible schedules along the track segments. The computational results on a mostly single track corridor taken from the INFORMS RAS Problem Solving Competition 2012 data indicate that our new solution approach is rather strong. Indeed, for this instance the solution of the Lagrangian relaxation is already integral.}, language = {en} } @misc{SchlechteBorndoerfer2008, author = {Schlechte, Thomas and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf}, title = {Balancing Efficiency and Robustness - A Bi-criteria Optimization Approach to Railway Track Allocation}, organization = {ZIB}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-10763}, number = {08-22}, year = {2008}, abstract = {Technical restrictions and challenging details let railway traffic become one of the most complex transportation systems. Routing trains in a conflict-free way through a track network is one of the basic scheduling problems for any railway company. This article focuses on a robust extension of this problem, also known as train timetabling problem (TTP), which consists in finding a schedule, a conflict free set of train routes, of maximum value for a given railway network. However, timetables are not only required to be profitable. Railway companies are also interested in reliable and robust solutions. Intuitively, we expect a more robust track allocation to be one where disruptions arising from delays are less likely to be propagated causing delays of subsequent trains. This trade-off between an efficient use of railway infrastructure and the prospects of recovery leads us to a bi-criteria optimization approach. On the one hand we want to maximize the profit of a schedule, that is more or less to maximize the number of feasible routed trains. On the other hand if two trains are scheduled as tight as possible after each other it is clear that a delay of the first one always affects the subsequent train. We present extensions of the integer programming formulation in [BorndoerferSchlechte2007] for solving (TTP). These models can incorporate both aspects, because of the additional track configuration variables. We discuss how these variables can directly be used to measure a certain type of robustness of a timetable. For these models which can be solved by column generation techniques, we propose so-called scalarization techniques, see [Ehrgott2005], to determine efficient solutions. Here, an efficient solution is one which does not allow any improvement in profit and robustness at the same time. We prove that the LP-relaxation of the (TTP) including an additional \$\epsilon\$-constraint remains solvable in polynomial time. Finally, we present some preliminary results on macroscopic real-world data of a part of the German long distance railway network.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferGroetschelLukacetal.2005, 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}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-8786}, number = {05-45}, year = {2005}, abstract = {We present an approach to implement an auction of railway slots. Railway network, train driving characteristics, and safety requirements are described by a simplified, but still complex macroscopic model. In this environment, slots are modelled as combinations of scheduled track segments. The auction design builds on the iterative combinatorial auction. However, combinatorial bids are restricted to some types of slot bundles that realize positive synergies between slots. We present a bidding language that allows bidding for these slot bundles. An integer programming approach is proposed to solve the winner determination problem of our auction. Computational results for auction simulations in the Hannover-Fulda-Kassel area of the German railway network give evidence that auction approaches can induce a more efficient use of railway capacity.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferSchlechte2007, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Models for Railway Track Allocation}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-9451}, number = {07-02}, year = {2007}, abstract = {This article is about the optimal track allocation problem (OPTRA) to find, in a given railway network, a conflict free set of train routes of maximum value. We study two types of integer programming formulations: a standard formulation that models block conflicts in terms of packing constraints, and a new extended formulation that is based on additional configuration' variables. We show that the packing constraints in the standard formulation stem from an interval graph, and that they can be separated in polynomial time. It follows that the LP relaxation of a strong version of this model, including all clique inequalities from block conflicts, can be solved in polynomial time. We prove that the extended formulation produces the same LP bound, and that it can also be computed with this model in polynomial time. Albeit the two formulations are in this sense equivalent, the extended formulation has advantages from a computational point of view, because it features a constant number of rows and is therefore amenable to standard column generation techniques. Results of an empirical model comparison on mesoscopic data for the Hannover-Fulda-Kassel region of the German long distance railway network are reported.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Borndoerfer2010, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf}, title = {Mathematical Optimization and Public Transportation}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-13613}, school = {Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB)}, year = {2010}, abstract = {This cumulative thesis collects the following six papers for obtaining the habilitation at the Technische Universit{\"a}t Berlin, Fakult{\"a}t II - Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften: (1) Set packing relaxations of some integer programs. (2) Combinatorial packing problems. (3) Decomposing matrices into blocks. (4) A bundle method for integrated multi-depot vehicle and duty scheduling in public transit. (5) Models for railway track allocation. (6) A column-generation approach to line planning in public transport. Some changes were made to the papers compared to the published versions. These pertain to layout unifications, i.e., common numbering, figure, table, and chapter head layout. There were no changes with respect to notation or symbols, but some typos have been eliminated, references updated, and some links and an index was added. The mathematical content is identical. The papers are about the optimization of public transportation systems, i.e., bus networks, railways, and airlines, and its mathematical foundations, i.e., the theory of packing problems. The papers discuss mathematical models, theoretical analyses, algorithmic approaches, and computational aspects of and to problems in this area. Papers 1, 2, and 3 are theoretical. They aim at establishing a theory of packing problems as a general framework that can be used to study traffic optimization problems. Indeed, traffic optimization problems can often be modelled as path packing, partitioning, or covering problems, which lead directly to set packing, partitioning, and covering models. Such models are used in papers 4, 5, and 6 to study a variety of problems concerning the planning of line systems, buses, trains, and crews. The common aim is always to exploit as many degrees of freedom as possible, both at the level of the individual problems by using large-scale integer programming techniques, as well as on a higher level by integrating hitherto separate steps in the planning process.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferSchlechteSwarat2011, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas and Swarat, Elmar}, title = {Railway Track Allocation - Simulation, Aggregation, and Optimization}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-27963-8}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-14031}, number = {11-35}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Today the railway timetabling process and the track allocation is one of the most challenging problems to solve by a railway company. Especially due to the deregulation of the transport market in the recent years several suppliers of railway traffic have entered the market in Europe. This leads to more potential conflicts between trains caused by an increasing demand of train paths. 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 size of the problem instances. In order to make best use of the infrastructure and to ensure economic operation, efficient planning of the railway operation is indispensable. Mathematical optimization models and algorithms can help to automatize and tackle these challenges. Our contribution in this paper is to present a renewed planning process due to the liberalization in Europe and an associated concept for track allocation, that consists of three important parts, simulation, aggregation, and optimization. Furthermore, we present results of our general framework for real world data.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferMuraSchlechte2009, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Mura, Annette and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Vickrey Auctions for Railway Tracks}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2008}, editor = {Fleischmann, Bernhard and Borgwardt, Karl and Klein, Robert and Tuma, Axel}, publisher = {Springer-Verlag}, pages = {551 -- 556}, year = {2009}, language = {en} } @book{Borndoerfer2010, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf}, title = {Mathematical Optimization and Public Transportation}, publisher = {TU Berlin}, year = {2010}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferSchlechteWeider2010, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas and Weider, Steffen}, title = {Railway Track Allocation by Rapid Branching}, volume = {14}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 10th Workshop on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems}, editor = {Erlebach, Thomas and L{\"u}bbecke, Marco}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2010.13}, pages = {13 -- 23}, year = {2010}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferSchlechte2008, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Solving Railway Track Allocation Problems}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2007}, editor = {Kalcsics, J{\"o}rg and Nickel, Stefan}, publisher = {Springer-Verlag}, pages = {117 -- 122}, year = {2008}, language = {en} } @misc{SchlechteTanner2010, author = {Schlechte, Thomas and Tanner, Andreas}, title = {Railway capacity auctions with dual prices}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11729}, number = {10-10}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Railway scheduling is based on the principle of the construction of a conflict-free timetable. This leads to a strict definition of capacity: in contrast with road transportation, it can be said in advance whether a given railway infrastructure can accommodate - at least in theory - a certain set of train requests. Consequently, auctions for railway capacity are modeled as auctions of discrete goods -- the train slots. We present estimates for the efficiency gain that may be generated by slot auctioning in comparison with list price allocation. We introduce a new class of allocation and auction problems, the feasible assignment problem, that is a proper generalization of the well-known combinatorial auction problem. The feasible assignment class was designed to cover the needs for an auction mechanism for railway slot auctions, but is of interest in its own right. As a practical instance to state and solve the railway slot allocation problem, we present an integer programming formulation, briefly the ACP, which turns out to be an instance of the feasible assignment problem and whose dual problem yields prices that can be applied to define a useful activity rule for the linearized version of the Ausubel Milgrom Proxy auction. We perform a simulation aiming to measure the impact on efficiency and convergence rate.}, language = {en} } @misc{FischerSchlechte2015, author = {Fischer, Frank and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Comparing two dual relaxations of large scale train timetabling problems}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-56068}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Railway transportation and in particular train timetabling is one of the basic and source application areas of combinatorial optimization and integer programming. We will discuss two well established modeling techniques for the train timetabling problem. In this paper we focus on one major ingredient - the bounding by dual relaxations. We compare two classical dual relaxations of large scale time expanded train timetabling problems - the Lagrangean Dual and Lagrangean Decomposition. We discuss the convergence behavior and show limitations of the Lagrangean Decomposition approach for a configuration based model. We introduce a third dualization approach to overcome those limitations. Finally, we present promising preliminary computational experiments that show that our new approach indeed has superior convergence properties.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{FischerSchlechte2015, author = {Fischer, Frank and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Comparing two dual relaxations of large scale train timetabling problems}, booktitle = {Proceedings of Conference on Advanced Systems in Public Transport 2015}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Railway transportation and in particular train timetabling is one of the basic and source application areas of combinatorial optimization and integer programming. We will discuss two well established modeling techniques for the train timetabling problem. In this paper we focus on one major ingredient - the bounding by dual relaxations. We compare two classical dual relaxations of large scale time expanded train timetabling problems - the Lagrangean Dual and Lagrangean Decomposition. We discuss the convergence behavior and show limitations of the Lagrangean Decomposition approach for a configuration based model. We introduce a third dualization approach to overcome those limitations. Finally, we present promising preliminary computational experiments that show that our new approach indeed has superior convergence properties.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BlancoSchlechte2014, author = {Blanco, Marco and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Analysis of Micro-Macro Transformations of Railway Networks}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2013}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-07001-8_6}, pages = {37 -- 42}, year = {2014}, abstract = {A common technique in the solution of large or complex optimization problems is the use of micro-macro transformations. In this paper, we carry out a theoretical analysis of such transformations for the track allocation problem in railway networks. We prove that the cumulative rounding technique of Schlechte et al. satisfies two of three natural optimality criteria and that this performance cannot be improved. We also show that under extreme circumstances, this technique can perform inconveniently by underestimating the global optimal value.}, language = {en} }