@inproceedings{LoebelLindner2025, author = {L{\"o}bel, Fabian and Lindner, Niels}, title = {A Geometric Approach to Integrated Periodic Timetabling and Passenger Routing}, volume = {137}, booktitle = {25th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2025)}, editor = {Sauer, Jonas and Schmidt, Marie}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, isbn = {978-3-95977-404-8}, issn = {2190-6807}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-247580}, pages = {2:1 -- 2:19}, year = {2025}, abstract = {We offer a geometric perspective on the problem of integrated periodic timetabling and passenger routing in public transport. Inside the space of periodic tensions, we single out those regions, where the same set of paths provides shortest passenger routes. This results in a polyhedral subdivision, which we combine with the known decomposition by polytropes. On each maximal region of the common refinement, the integrated problem is solvable in polynomial time. We transform these insights into a new geometry-driven primal heuristic, integrated tropical neighborhood search (ITNS). Computationally, we compare implementations of ITNS and the integrated (restricted) modulo network simplex algorithm on the TimPassLib benchmark set, and contribute better solutions in terms of total travel time for all but one of the twenty-five instances for which a proven optimal solution is not yet known.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LindnerLiebchen2025, author = {Lindner, Niels and Liebchen, Christian}, title = {Incremental Heuristics for Periodic Timetabling}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2023}, editor = {Voigt, Guido and Fliedner, Malte and Haase, Knut and Br{\"u}ggemann, Wolfgang and Hoberg, Kai and Meissner, J{\"o}rn}, publisher = {Springer Nature Switzerland}, address = {Cham}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-58405-3_59}, pages = {461 -- 467}, year = {2025}, abstract = {We present incremental heuristics for the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP), the standard mathematical tool to optimize periodic timetables in public transport. The core of our method is to solve successively larger subinstances making use of previously found solutions. Introducing the technical notion of free stratifications, we formulate a general scheme for incremental heuristics for PESP. More practically, we use line and station information to create heuristics that add lines or stations one by one, and we evaluate these heuristics on instances of the benchmarking library PESPlib. This approach is indeed viable, and leads to new incumbent solutions for six PESPlib instances.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferSchwartzSurau2021, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schwartz, Stephan and Surau, William}, title = {Finding Minimum Balanced Separators - an Exact Approach}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2021}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08623-6_24}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-83138}, pages = {154 -- 159}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Balanced separators are node sets that split the graph into size bounded components. They find applications in different theoretical and practical problems. In this paper we discuss how to find a minimum set of balanced separators in node weighted graphs. Our contribution is a new and exact algorithm that solves Minimum Balanced Separators by a sequence of Hitting Set problems. The only other exact method appears to be a mixed-integer program (MIP) for the edge weighted case. We adapt this model to node weighted graphs and compare it to our approach on a set of instances, resembling transit networks. It shows that our algorithm is far superior on almost all test instances.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LoebelBorndoerferWeider2025, author = {L{\"o}bel, Fabian and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Weider, Steffen}, title = {Non-linear Battery Behavior in Electric Vehicle Scheduling Problems}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2023. OR 2023.}, editor = {Voigt, Guido and Fliedner, Malte and Haase, Knut and Br{\"u}ggermann, Wolfgang and Hoberg, Kai and Meissner, Joern}, publisher = {Springer Nature Switzerland}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {9783031584046}, issn = {2731-040X}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-58405-3_53}, pages = {415 -- 421}, year = {2025}, abstract = {The currently most popular approach to handle non-linear battery behavior for electric vehicle scheduling is to use a linear spline interpolation of the charge curve. We show that this can lead to approximate models that underestimate the charge duration and overestimate the state of charge, which is not desirable. While the error is of second order with respect to the interpolation step size, the associated mixed-integer linear programs do not scale well with the number of spline segments. It is therefore recommendable to use coarse interpolation grids adapted to the curvature of the charge curve, and to include sufficient safety margins to ensure solutions of approximate models remain feasible subjected to the exact charge curve.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LindnerMehlBartoszuketal.2025, author = {Lindner, Niels and Mehl, Lukas and Bartoszuk, Karolina and Berendes, Sarah and Zittel, Janina}, title = {Demand Uncertainty in Energy Systems: Scenario Catalogs vs. Integrated Robust Optimization}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Designing efficient energy systems is indispensable for shaping a more sustainable society. This involves making infrastructure investment decisions that must be valid for a long-term time horizon. While energy system optimization models constitute a powerful technique to support planning decisions, they need to cope with inherent uncertainty. For example, predicting future demand on a scale of decades is not only an intricate challenge in itself, but small fluctuations in such a forecast might also largely impact the layout of a complex energy system. In this paper, we compare two methodologies of capturing demand uncertainty for linear-programming based energy system optimization models. On one hand, we generate and analyze catalogs of varying demand scenarios, where each individual scenario is considered independently, so that the optimization produces scenario-specific investment pathways. On the other hand, we make use of robust linear programming to meet the demand of all scenarios at once. Since including a multitude of scenarios increases the size and complexity of the optimization model, we will show how to use warm-starting approaches to accelerate the computation process, by exploiting the similar structure of the linear program across different demand inputs. This allows to integrate a meaningful number of demand scenarios with fully-fledged energy system models. We demonstrate the practical use of our methods in a case study of the Berlin-Brandenburg area in Germany, a region that contains both a metropolitan area and its rural surroundings. As a backbone, we use the open-source framework oemof to create a sector-coupled optimization model for planning an energy system with up to 100\% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This model features a fine-grained temporal resolution of one hour for the full year 2050. We consider uncertainty in demand for electricity, hydrogen, natural gas, central, and decentral heat. Based on our computations, we analyze the trade-offs in terms of quality and computation time for scenario catalogs and the robust optimization approach. We further demonstrate that our procedure provides a valuable strategy for decision makers to gain insight on the robustness and sensitivity of solutions regarding demand variability.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LindnerLiebchen2020, author = {Lindner, Niels and Liebchen, Christian}, title = {Determining all integer vertices of the PESP polytope by flipping arcs}, volume = {85}, booktitle = {20th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2020)}, editor = {Huisman, Dennis and Zaroliagis, Christos D.}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2020.5}, pages = {5:1 -- 5:18}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We investigate polyhedral aspects of the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP), the mathematical basis for periodic timetabling problems in public transport. Flipping the orientation of arcs, we obtain a new class of valid inequalities, the flip inequalities, comprising both the known cycle and change-cycle inequalities. For a point of the LP relaxation, a violated flip inequality can be found in pseudo-polynomial time, and even in linear time for a spanning tree solution. Our main result is that the integer vertices of the polytope described by the flip inequalities are exactly the vertices of the PESP polytope, i.e., the convex hull of all feasible periodic slacks with corresponding modulo parameters. Moreover, we show that this flip polytope equals the PESP polytope in some special cases. On the computational side, we devise several heuristic approaches concerning the separation of cutting planes from flip inequalities. We finally present better dual bounds for the smallest and largest instance of the benchmarking library PESPlib.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LindnerMasingLiebchen2024, author = {Lindner, Niels and Masing, Berenike and Liebchen, Christian}, title = {Integrierte Baufahrplanoptimierung auf dem Netz der S-Bahn Berlin}, volume = {002/140}, booktitle = {HEUREKA'24 - Optimierung in Verkehr und Transport}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Zur Instandhaltung von Eisenbahnnetzen sind regelm{\"a}ßig Baumaßnahmen erforderlich. Diese erfordern stets Anpassungen der Fahrpl{\"a}ne. Um den Fahrg{\"a}sten trotz der Baumaßnahme weiterhin einen m{\"o}glichst großen Teil des Regelangebotes bieten zu k{\"o}nnen, bewegen sich die resultierenden Baufahrpl{\"a}ne insbesondere in Schnellbahnnetzen mit ihren dichten Zugfolgen h{\"a}ufig nahe der Kapazit{\"a}tsgrenze der Infrastruktur. Etablierte Verfahren zur Taktfahrplanoptimierung k{\"o}nnen diesen Anforderungen nicht gen{\"u}gen, da in der Praxis Anpassungen von Laufwegen der Linien, sowie der Gleisbelegungen h{\"a}ufig Teil der realisierten L{\"o}sungen sind. F{\"u}r diese Aufgabe haben die Autoren zuletzt ein Optimierungsmodell vorgestellt, welches diese M{\"o}glichkeiten aussch{\"o}pft. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag wird erstmalig dessen Anwendung auf ein unmittelbar der Praxis der Baufahrplanung entnommenes Beispiel aus dem Netz der Berliner S-Bahn im Detail beschrieben.}, language = {de} } @inproceedings{LindnerMasing2024, author = {Lindner, Niels and Masing, Berenike}, title = {SAT-Generated Initial Solutions for Integrated Line Planning and Turn-Sensitive Periodic Timetabling with Track Choice}, booktitle = {hEART 2024: 12th Symposium of the European Association for Research in Transportation}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-98066}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Periodic timetabling is a challenging planning task in public transport. As safety requirements are crucial, track allocation is indispensable for validating the practical feasibility of a railway timetable. For busy stations with limited capacities, this requires a detailed planning of turn-arounds. It is therefore desirable to integrate timetabling not only with track allocation, but also with vehicle scheduling and line planning. This is captured by the Integrated Line Planning and Turn-Sensitive Periodic Timetabling Problem with Track Choice, whose MIP formulation has been demonstrated to be effective for construction site railway rescheduling, as long as a good quality initial solution is available. In this paper, we discuss how to generate such a solution by extending the SAT formulation of the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem with track choice, track occupation, and minimum service frequency components. The SAT approach is superior to pure MIP on real-world instances of the S-Bahn Berlin network.}, language = {de} } @inproceedings{LindnerLiebchenMasing2021, author = {Lindner, Niels and Liebchen, Christian and Masing, Berenike}, title = {Forward Cycle Bases and Periodic Timetabling}, volume = {96}, booktitle = {21st Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2021)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2021.2}, pages = {2:1 -- 2:14}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Periodic timetable optimization problems in public transport can be modeled as mixed-integer linear programs by means of the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP). In order to keep the branch-and-bound tree small, minimum integral cycle bases have been proven successful. We examine forward cycle bases, where no cycle is allowed to contain a backward arc. After reviewing the theory of these bases, we describe the construction of an integral forward cycle basis on a line-based event-activity network. Adding turnarounds to the instance R1L1 of the benchmark library PESPlib, we computationally evaluate three types of forward cycle bases in the Pareto sense, and come up with significant improvements concerning dual bounds.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LindnerMaristanydelasCasasSchiewe2021, author = {Lindner, Niels and Maristany de las Casas, Pedro and Schiewe, Philine}, title = {Optimal Forks: Preprocessing Single-Source Shortest Path Instances with Interval Data}, volume = {96}, booktitle = {21st Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2021)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2021.7}, pages = {7:1 -- 7:15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {We investigate preprocessing for single-source shortest path queries in digraphs, where arc costs are only known to lie in an interval. More precisely, we want to decide for each arc whether it is part of some shortest path tree for some realization of costs. We show that this problem is solvable in polynomial time by giving a combinatorial algorithm, using optimal structures that we call forks. Our algorithm turns out to be very efficient in practice, and is sometimes even superior in quality to a heuristic developed for the one-to-one shortest path problem in the context of passenger routing in public transport.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BortolettovanLieshoutMasingetal.2024, author = {Bortoletto, Enrico and van Lieshout, Rolf Nelson and Masing, Berenike and Lindner, Niels}, title = {Periodic Event Scheduling with Flexible Infrastructure Assignment}, volume = {123}, booktitle = {24th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2024)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2024.4}, pages = {4:1 -- 4:18}, year = {2024}, abstract = {We present novel extensions of the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP) that integrate the assignment of activities to infrastructure elements. An application of this is railway timetabling, as station and platform capacities are limited and need to be taken into account. We show that an assignment of activities to platforms can always be made periodic, and that it can be beneficial to allow larger periods for the assignment than for the timetable. We present mixed-integer programming formulations for the general problem, as well as for the practically relevant case when multiple platforms can be considered equivalent, for which we present a bipartite matching approach. We finally test and compare these models on real-world instances.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{EulerBorndoerferPuchertetal.2024, author = {Euler, Ricardo and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Puchert, Christian and Takkula, Tuomo}, title = {ULD Build-Up Scheduling with Logic-Based Benders Decomposition}, volume = {14742}, booktitle = {Integration of Constraint Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Operations Research}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-60597-0_17}, pages = {259 -- 276}, year = {2024}, abstract = {We study a complex planning and scheduling problem arising from the build-up process of air cargo pallets and containers, collectively referred to as unit load devices (ULD), in which ULDs must be assigned to workstations for loading. Since air freight usually becomes available gradually along the planning horizon, ULD build-ups must be scheduled neither too early to avoid underutilizing ULD capacity, nor too late to avoid resource conflicts with other flights. Whenever possible, ULDs should be built up in batches, thereby giving ground handlers more freedom to rearrange cargo and utilize the ULD's capacity efficiently. The resulting scheduling problem has an intricate cost function and produces large time-expanded models, especially for longer planning horizons. We propose a logic-based Benders decomposition approach that assigns batches to time intervals and workstations in the master problem, while the actual schedule is decided in a subproblem. By choosing appropriate intervals, the subproblem becomes a feasibility problem that decomposes over the workstations. Additionally, the similarity of many batches is exploited by a strengthening procedure for no-good cuts. We benchmark our approach against a time-expanded MIP formulation from the literature on a publicly available data set. It solves 15\% more instances to optimality and decreases run times by more than 50\% in the geometric mean. This improvement is especially pronounced for longer planning horizons of up to one week, where the Benders approach solves over 50\% instances more than the baseline}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferLoebelLoebeletal.2024, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and L{\"o}bel, Andreas and L{\"o}bel, Fabian and Weider, Steffen}, title = {Solving the Electric Bus Scheduling Problem by an Integrated Flow and Set Partitioning Approach}, volume = {123}, booktitle = {24th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2024)}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2024.11}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-211992}, pages = {11:1 -- 11:16}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Attractive and cost-efficient public transport requires solving computationally difficult optimization problems from network design to crew rostering. While great progress has been made in many areas, new requirements to handle increasingly complex constraints are constantly coming up. One such challenge is a new type of resource constraints that are used to deal with the state-of-charge of battery-electric vehicles, which have limited driving ranges and need to be recharged in-service. Resource constrained vehicle scheduling problems can classically be modelled in terms of either a resource constrained (multi-commodity) flow problem or in terms of a path-based set partition problem. We demonstrate how a novel integrated version of both formulations can be leveraged to solve resource constrained vehicle scheduling with replenishment in general and the electric bus scheduling problem in particular by Lagrangian relaxation and the proximal bundle method.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{Prause2024, author = {Prause, Felix}, title = {A Multi-Swap Heuristic for Rolling Stock Rotation Planning with Predictive Maintenance}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 11th International Network Optimization Conference (INOC), Dublin, Ireland, March 11-23, 2024}, doi = {10.48786/inoc.2024.11}, pages = {58 -- 63}, year = {2024}, abstract = {We present a heuristic solution approach for the rolling stock rotation problem with predictive maintenance (RSRP-PdM). The task of this problem is to assign a sequence of trips to each of the vehicles and to schedule their maintenance such that all trips can be operated. Here, the health states of the vehicles are considered to be random variables distributed by a family of probability distribution functions, and the maintenance services should be scheduled based on the failure probability of the vehicles. The proposed algorithm first generates a solution by solving an integer linear program and then heuristically improves this solution by applying a local search procedure. For this purpose, the trips assigned to the vehicles are split up and recombined, whereby additional deadhead trips can be inserted between the partial assignments. Subsequently, the maintenance is scheduled by solving a shortest path problem in a state-expanded version of a space-time graph restricted to the trips of the individual vehicles. The solution approach is tested and evaluated on a set of test instances based on real-world timetables.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LoebelBorndoerferWeider2023, author = {L{\"o}bel, Fabian and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Weider, Steffen}, title = {Non-Linear Charge Functions for Electric Vehicle Scheduling with Dynamic Recharge Rates}, volume = {115}, booktitle = {23rd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2023)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2023.15}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-187765}, pages = {15:1 -- 15:6}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The ongoing electrification of logistics systems and vehicle fleets increases the complexity of associated vehicle routing or scheduling problems. Battery-powered vehicles have to be scheduled to recharge in-service, and the relationship between charging time and replenished driving range is non-linear. In order to access the powerful toolkit offered by mixed-integer and linear programming techniques, this battery behavior has to be linearized. Moreover, as electric fleets grow, power draw peaks have to be avoided to save on electricity costs or to adhere to hard grid capacity limits, such that it becomes desirable to keep recharge rates dynamic. We suggest a novel linearization approach of battery charging behavior for vehicle scheduling problems, in which the recharge rates are optimization variables and not model parameters.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KlugReutherSchlechte2022, author = {Klug, Torsten and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Does Laziness Pay Off? - A Lazy-Constraint Approach to Timetabling}, volume = {106}, booktitle = {22nd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2022)}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2022.11}, pages = {11:1 -- 11:8}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Timetabling is a classical and complex task for public transport operators as well as for railway undertakings. The general question is: Which vehicle is taking which route through the transportation network in which order? In this paper, we consider the special setting to find optimal timetables for railway systems under a moving block regime. We directly set up on our work of [8 ], i.e., we consider the same model formulation and real-world instances of a moving block headway system. In this paper, we present a repair heuristic and a lazy-constraint approach utilizing the callback features of Gurobi, see [3]. We provide an experimental study of the different algorithmic approaches for a railway network with 100 and up to 300 train requests. The computational results show that the lazy-constraint approach together with the repair heuristic significantly improves our previous approaches.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{EulerBorndoerferStrunketal.2022, author = {Euler, Ricardo and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Strunk, Timo and Takkula, Tuomo}, title = {ULD Build-Up Scheduling with Dynamic Batching in an Air Freight Hub}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2021}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-08623-6_38}, pages = {254 -- 260}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Air freight is usually shipped in standardized unit load devices (ULDs). The planning process for the consolidation of transit cargo from inbound flights or locally emerging shipments into ULDs for outbound flights is called build-up scheduling. More specifically, outbound ULDs must be assigned a time and a workstation subject to both workstation capacity constraints and the availability of shipments which in turn depends on break-down decisions for incoming ULDs. ULDs scheduled for the same outbound flight should be built up in temporal and spatial proximity. This serves both to minimize overhead in transportation times and to allow workers to move freight between ULDs. We propose to address this requirement by processing ULDs for the same outbound flight in batches. For the above build-up scheduling problem, we introduce a multi-commodity network design model. Outbound flights are modeled as commodities; transit cargo is represented by cargo flow volume and unpack and batch decisions are represented as design variables. The model is solved with a standard MIP solver on a set of benchmark data. For instances with a limited number of resource conflicts, near-optimal solutions are found in under two hours for a whole week of operations.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MasingLindnerBorndoerfer2022, author = {Masing, Berenike and Lindner, Niels and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf}, title = {Optimal Line Plans in the Parametric City and the Impact of In-Motion Costs}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2021}, editor = {Trautmann, Norbert and Dr{\"a}gi, Mario}, publisher = {Springer, Cham}, isbn = {978-3-031-08623-6}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-08623-6_44}, pages = {295 -- 301}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Line planning in public transport involves determining vehicle routes and assigning frequencies of service such that travel demands are satisfied. We evaluate how line plans, which are optimal with respect to in-motion costs (IMC), the objective function depending purely on arc-lengths for both user and operator costs, performs with respect to the value of resources consumed (VRC). The latter is an elaborate, socio-economic cost function which includes discomfort caused by delay, boarding and alighting times, and transfers. Even though discomfort is a large contributing factor to VRC and is entirely disregarded in IMC,  we observe that the two cost functions are qualitatively comparable.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BlancoBorndoerferMaristanydelasCasas2022, author = {Blanco, Marco and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Maristany de las Casas, Pedro}, title = {An A* Algorithm for Flight Planning Based on Idealized Vertical Profiles}, volume = {106}, booktitle = {22nd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2022)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2022.1}, pages = {1:1 -- 1:15}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The Flight Planning Problem is to find a minimum fuel trajectory between two airports in a 3D airway network under consideration of the wind. We show that this problem is NP-hard, even in its most basic version. We then present a novel A∗ heuristic, whose potential function is derived from an idealized vertical profile over the remaining flight distance. This potential is, under rather general assumptions, both admissible and consistent and it can be computed efficiently. The method outperforms the state-of-the-art heuristic on real-life instances.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{GrimmBorndoerferBushe2023, author = {Grimm, Boris and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Bushe, Julian}, title = {Assignment Based Resource Constrained Path Generation for Railway Rolling Stock Optimization}, volume = {115}, booktitle = {23rd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2023)}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2023.13}, pages = {13:1 -- 13:15}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The fundamental task of every passenger railway operator is to offer an attractive railway timetable to the passengers while operating it as cost efficiently as possible. The available rolling stock has to be assigned to trips so that all trips are operated, operational requirements are satisfied, and the operating costs are minimum. This so-called Rolling Stock Rotation Problem (RSRP) is well studied in the literature. In this paper we consider an acyclic version of the RSRP that includes vehicle maintenance. As the latter is an important aspect, maintenance services have to be planned simultaneously to ensure the rotation's feasibility in practice. Indeed, regular maintenance is important for the safety and reliability of the rolling stock as well as enforced by law in many countries. We present a new integer programming formulation that links a hyperflow to model vehicle compositions and their coupling decisions to a set of path variables that take care of the resource consumption of the individual vehicles. To solve the model we developed different column generation algorithms which are compared to each other as well as to the MILP flow formulation of [Ralf Bornd{\"o}rfer et al., 2016] on a test set of real world instances.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferGrimmSchade2023, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Grimm, Boris and Schade, Stanley}, title = {A Robustness Analysis of Long Distance Train Crew Schedules in Germany}, volume = {CCC 1}, booktitle = {Proceedings Of The Fifth Iinternational Conference On Railway Technology: Research, Development and Maintenance}, issn = {2753-3239}, doi = {10.4203/ccc.1.23.17}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Nowadays railway networks are highly complex and often very fragile systems. A wide variety of individual operations that influence each other have to go hand in hand to end up with a smoothly and efficiently running system. Many of these operations suffer from uncertainty as trains could be delayed, the signaling system be disrupted or scheduled crews could be ill. Usually these opartions could be organized hierarchically from long term strategical decisions to real time decision management. Each stage in the hierarchy defines a different mathematical optimization problem, which is solved sequentially. At every stage the knowledge about preceding or succeeding planning stages may vary and also the interaction between two stages in this chain of problems may vary from almost no interaction to highly dependent situations. This paper deals with a topic that is an example for the latter case, namely the interaction between vehicle schedules, vehicle punctuality, and crew schedules. To reduce the number of potential rescheduling actions we developed a software tool in cooperation with our practical partner DB Fernverkehr AG (DBF) to predict a certain set of critical crew schedules. This tool evaluates, predicts, and determines "bottlenecks" in the crew schedule in the sense of potentially required rescheduling actions due to likely delays. The approach was tested on real life crew and train timetable data of DBF and can be regarded as the computation of key performance indicators, which is often desired. For our experiments we had access to the operated timetable and crew schedule of DBF for periods of two and six weeks in 2019.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BortolettoLindnerMasing2022, author = {Bortoletto, Enrico and Lindner, Niels and Masing, Berenike}, title = {Tropical Neighbourhood Search: A New Heuristic for Periodic Timetabling}, volume = {106}, booktitle = {22nd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2022)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2022.3}, pages = {3:1 -- 3:19}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Periodic timetabling is a central aspect of both the long-term organization and the day-to-day operations of a public transportation system. The Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP), the combinatorial optimization problem that forms the mathematical basis of periodic timetabling, is an extremely hard problem, for which optimal solutions are hardly ever found in practice. The most prominent solving strategies today are based on mixed-integer programming, and there is a concurrent PESP solver employing a wide range of heuristics [Bornd{\"o}rfer et al., 2020]. We present tropical neighborhood search (tns), a novel PESP heuristic. The method is based on the relations between periodic timetabling and tropical geometry [Bortoletto et al., 2022]. We implement tns into the concurrent solver, and test it on instances of the benchmarking library PESPlib. The inclusion of tns turns out to be quite beneficial to the solver: tns is able to escape local optima for the modulo network simplex algorithm, and the overall share of improvement coming from tns is substantial compared to the other methods available in the solver. Finally, we provide better primal bounds for five PESPlib instances.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BortolettoLindnerMasing2023, author = {Bortoletto, Enrico and Lindner, Niels and Masing, Berenike}, title = {Periodic Timetabling with Cyclic Order Constraints}, volume = {115}, booktitle = {23rd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2023)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2023.7}, pages = {7:1 -- 7:18}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Periodic timetabling for highly utilized railway networks is a demanding challenge. We formulate an infrastructure-aware extension of the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP) by requiring that not only events, but also activities using the same infrastructure must be separated by a minimum headway time. This extended problem can be modeled as a mixed-integer program by adding constraints on the sum of periodic tensions along certain cycles, so that it shares some structural properties with standard PESP. We further refine this problem by fixing cyclic orders at each infrastructure element. Although the computational complexity remains unchanged, the mixed-integer programming model then becomes much smaller. Furthermore, we also discuss how to find a minimal subset of infrastructure elements whose cyclic order already prescribes the order for the remaining parts of the network, and how cyclic order information can be modeled in a mixed-integer programming context. In practice, we evaluate the impact of cyclic orders on a real-world instance on the S-Bahn Berlin network, which turns out to be computationally fruitful.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MasingLindnerLiebchen2023, author = {Masing, Berenike and Lindner, Niels and Liebchen, Christian}, title = {Integrating Line Planning for Construction Sites into Periodic Timetabling via Track Choice}, volume = {115}, booktitle = {23rd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2023)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2023.5}, pages = {5:1 -- 5:15}, year = {2023}, abstract = {We consider maintenance sites for urban rail systems, where unavailable tracks typically require changes to the regular timetable, and often even to the line plan. In this paper, we present an integrated mixed-integer linear optimization model to compute an optimal line plan that makes best use of the available tracks, together with a periodic timetable, including its detailed routing on the tracks within the stations. The key component is a flexible, turn-sensitive event-activity network that allows to integrate line planning and train routing using a track choice extension of the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP). Major goals are to maintain as much of the regular service as possible, and to keep the necessary changes rather local. Moreover, we present computational results on real construction site scenarios on the S-Bahn Berlin network. We demonstrate that this integrated problem is indeed solvable on practically relevant instances.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{Masing2022, author = {Masing, Berenike}, title = {Optimal Line Planning in the Parametric City}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2021. OR 2021.}, editor = {Trautmann, Norbert and Dr{\"a}gi, Mario}, publisher = {Springer, Cham}, isbn = {978-3-031-08623-6}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-08623-6_7}, pages = {39 -- 44}, year = {2022}, abstract = {We formulate the line planning problem in public transport as a mixed integer linear program (MILP), which selects both passenger and vehicle routes, such that travel demands are met with respect to minimized travel times for both operators and users. We apply MILP to the Parametric City, a generic city model developed by Fielbaum et al. [2]. While the infrastructure graph and demand are entirely rotation symmetric, asymmetric optimal line plans can occur. Using group theory, we analyze the properties of symmetric solutions and introduce a symmetry gap to measure their deviation of the optimum. We also develop a 1+1+2√g-approximation algorithm, depending only on the cost related parameter g. Supported by computational experiments, we conclude that in practice symmetric line plans provide good solutions for the line planning problem in the Parametric City.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LindnervanLieshout2022, author = {Lindner, Niels and van Lieshout, Rolf}, title = {Benders Decomposition for the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2021}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, address = {Cham}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-08623-6_43}, pages = {289 -- 294}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP) is the central mathematical model behind the optimization of periodic timetables in public transport. We apply Benders decomposition to the incidence-based MIP formulation of PESP. The resulting formulation exhibits particularly nice features: The subproblem is a minimum cost network flow problem, and feasibility cuts are equivalent to the well-known cycle inequalities by Odijk. We integrate the Benders approach into a branch-and-cut framework, and assess the performance of this method on instances derived from the benchmarking library PESPlib.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LoebelLindnerBorndoerfer2020, author = {L{\"o}bel, Fabian and Lindner, Niels and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf}, title = {The Restricted Modulo Network Simplex Method for Integrated Periodic Timetabling and Passenger Routing}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2019}, editor = {Neufeld, Janis S. and Buscher, Udo and Lasch, Rainer and M{\"o}st, Dominik and Sch{\"o}nberger, J{\"o}rn}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-030-48438-5}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48439-2_92}, pages = {757 -- 763}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The Periodic Event Scheduling Problem is a well-studied NP-hard problem with applications in public transportation to find good periodic timetables. Among the most powerful heuristics to solve the periodic timetabling problem is the modulo network simplex method. In this paper, we consider the more difficult version with integrated passenger routing and propose a refined integrated variant to solve this problem on real-world-based instances.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferDaneckerWeiser2023, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Danecker, Fabian and Weiser, Martin}, title = {Convergence Properties of Newton's Method for Globally Optimal Free Flight Trajectory Optimization}, volume = {115}, booktitle = {23rd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2023)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2023.3}, pages = {3:1 -- 3:6}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The algorithmic efficiency of Newton-based methods for Free Flight Trajectory Optimization is heavily influenced by the size of the domain of convergence. We provide numerical evidence that the convergence radius is much larger in practice than what the theoretical worst case bounds suggest. The algorithm can be further improved by a convergence-enhancing domain decomposition.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferCaselIssacetal.2021, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Casel, Katrin and Issac, Davis and Niklanovits, Aikaterini and Schwartz, Stephan and Zeif, Ziena}, title = {Connected k-partition of k-connected graphs and c-claw-free graphs}, volume = {207}, booktitle = {Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques, APPROX/RANDOM 2021}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik}, doi = {10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2021.27}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-147200}, pages = {27:1 -- 27:14}, year = {2021}, abstract = {A connected partition is a partition of the vertices of a graph into sets that induce connected subgraphs. Such partitions naturally occur in many application areas such as road networks, and image processing. In these settings, it is often desirable to partition into a fixed number of parts of roughly of the same size or weight. The resulting computational problem is called Balanced Connected Partition (BCP). The two classical objectives for BCP are to maximize the weight of the smallest, or minimize the weight of the largest component. We study BCP on c-claw-free graphs, the class of graphs that do not have K_{1,c} as an induced subgraph, and present efficient (c -1)-approximation algorithms for both objectives. In particular, for 3-claw-free graphs, also simply known as claw-free graphs, we obtain a 2-approximation. Due to the claw-freeness of line graphs, this also implies a 2-approximation for the edge-partition version of BCP in general graphs. A harder connected partition problem arises from demanding a connected partition into k parts that have (possibly) heterogeneous target weights w_1, ..., w_k. In the 1970s Győri and Lov{\´a}sz showed that if G is k-connected and the target weights sum to the total size of G, such a partition exists. However, to this day no polynomial algorithm to compute such partitions exists for k > 4. Towards finding such a partition T_1, ..., T_k in k-connected graphs for general k, we show how to efficiently compute connected partitions that at least approximately meet the target weights, subject to the mild assumption that each w_i is greater than the weight of the heaviest vertex. In particular, we give a 3-approximation for both the lower and the upper bounded version i.e. we guarantee that each T_i has weight at least w_i/3 or that each T_i has weight most 3w_i, respectively. Also, we present a both-side bounded version that produces a connected partition where each T_i has size at least w_i/3 and at most max({r, 3})w_i, where r ≥1 is the ratio between the largest and smallest value in w_1, ..., w_k. In particular for the balanced version, i.e. w_1 = w_2 = ... = w_k, this gives a partition with 1/3 w_i ≤ w(T_i) ≤ 3w_i.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferDaneckerWeiser2022, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Danecker, Fabian and Weiser, Martin}, title = {A Discrete-Continuous Algorithm for Globally Optimal Free Flight Trajectory Optimization}, volume = {106}, booktitle = {22nd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2022)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2022.2}, pages = {1 -- 13}, year = {2022}, abstract = {We present an efficient algorithm that finds a globally optimal solution to the 2D Free Flight Trajectory Optimization Problem (aka Zermelo Navigation Problem) up to arbitrary precision in finite time. The algorithm combines a discrete and a continuous optimization phase. In the discrete phase, a set of candidate paths that densely covers the trajectory space is created on a directed auxiliary graph. Then Yen's algorithm provides a promising set of discrete candidate paths which subsequently undergo a locally convergent refinement stage. Provided that the auxiliary graph is sufficiently dense, the method finds a path that lies within the convex domain around the global minimizer. From this starting point, the second stage will converge rapidly to the optimum. The density of the auxiliary graph depends solely on the wind field, and not on the accuracy of the solution, such that the method inherits the superior asymptotic convergence properties of the optimal control stage.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferSchwartzSurau2022, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Schwartz, Stephan and Surau, William}, title = {Rooted Maximum Weight Connected Subgraphs with Balancing and Capacity Constraints}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 10th International Network Optimization Conference (INOC), Aachen, Germany, June 7-10, 2022}, doi = {10.48786/inoc.2022.12}, pages = {63 -- 68}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Finding connected subgraphs of maximum weight subject to additional constraints on the subgraphs is a common (sub)problem in many applications. In this paper, we study the Maximum Weight Connected Subgraph Problem with a given root node and a lower and upper capacity constraint on the chosen subgraph. In addition, the nodes of the input graph are colored blue and red, and the chosen subgraph is required to be balanced regarding its cumulated blue and red weight. This problem arises as an essential subproblem in district planning applications. We show that the problem is NP-hard and give an integer programming formulation. By exploiting the capacity and balancing condition, we develop a powerful reduction technique that is able to significantly shrink the problem size. In addition, we propose a method to strengthen the LP relaxation of our formulation by identifying conflict pairs, i.e., nodes that cannot be both part of a chosen subgraph. Our computational study confirms the positive impact of the new preprocessing technique and of the proposed conflict cuts.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{GamrathReutherSchlechteetal.2021, author = {Gamrath, Gerwin and Reuther, Markus and Schlechte, Thomas and Swarat, Elmar}, title = {An LP-based heuristic for Inspector Scheduling}, volume = {1}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling - PATAT 2021: Volume I}, pages = {77 -- 86}, year = {2021}, abstract = {We present a heuristic based on linear programming (LP) for the integrated tour and crew roster planning of toll enforcement inspectors. Their task is to enforce the proper paying of a distance-based toll on German motorways. This leads to an integrated tour planning and duty rostering problem; it is called Toll Enforcement Problem (TEP). We tackle the TEP by a standard multi-commodity flow model with some extensions in order to incorporate the control tours. The heuristic consists of two variants. The first, called Price \& Branch, is a column generation approach to solve the model's LP relaxation by pricing tour and roster arc variables. Then, we compute an integer feasible solution by restricting to all variables that were priced. The second is a coarse-to-fine approach. Its basic idea is projecting variables to an aggregated variable space, which is much smaller. The aim is to spend as much algorithmic effort in this coarse model as possible. For both heuristic procedures we will show that feasible solutions of high quality can be computed even for large scale industrial instances.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{PrauseBorndoerfer2024, author = {Prause, Felix and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf}, title = {A Bayesian Rolling Horizon Approach for Rolling Stock Rotation Planning with Predictive Maintenance}, volume = {123}, booktitle = {24th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2024)}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2024.13}, pages = {13:1 -- 13:19}, year = {2024}, abstract = {We consider the rolling stock rotation planning problem with predictive maintenance (RSRP-PdM), where a timetable given by a set of trips must be operated by a fleet of vehicles. Here, the health states of the vehicles are assumed to be random variables, and their maintenance schedule should be planned based on their predicted failure probabilities. Utilizing the Bayesian update step of the Kalman filter, we develop a rolling horizon approach for RSRP-PdM, in which the predicted health state distributions are updated as new data become available. This approach reduces the uncertainty of the health states and thus improves the decision-making basis for maintenance planning. To solve the instances, we employ a local neighborhood search, which is a modification of a heuristic for RSRP-PdM, and demonstrate its effectiveness. Using this solution algorithm, the presented approach is compared with the results of common maintenance strategies on test instances derived from real-world timetables. The obtained results show the benefits of the rolling horizon approach.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BortolettoLindner2025, author = {Bortoletto, Enrico and Lindner, Niels}, title = {Scaling and Rounding Periodic Event Scheduling Instances to Different Period Times}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2023}, editor = {Voigt, Guido and Fliedner, Malte and Haase, Knut and Br{\"u}ggemann, Wolfgang and Hoberg, Kai and Meissner, J{\"o}rn}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-58405-3_51}, pages = {397 -- 402}, year = {2025}, abstract = {The Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP) is a notoriously hard combinatorial optimization problem, essential for the design of periodic timetables in public transportation. The coefficients of the integer variables in the standard mixed integer linear programming formulations of PESP are the period time, e.g., 60 for a horizon of one hour with a resolution of one minute. In many application scenarios, lines with different frequencies have to be scheduled, leading to period times with many divisors. It then seems natural to consider derived instances, where the period time is a divisor of the original one, thereby smaller, and bounds are scaled and rounded accordingly. To this end, we identify two rounding schemes: wide and tight. We then discuss the approximation performance of both strategies, in theory and practice.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{EbertMasingLindneretal.2025, author = {Ebert, Patricia and Masing, Berenike and Lindner, Niels and Gleixner, Ambros}, title = {Sorting Criteria for Line-based Periodic Timetabling Heuristics}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2024. OR 2024}, pages = {348 -- 354}, year = {2025}, abstract = {It is well-known that optimal solutions are notoriously hard to find for the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP), which is the standard mathematical formulation to optimize periodic timetables in public transport. We consider a class of incremental heuristics that have been demonstrated to be effective by Lindner and Liebchen (2023), however, for only one fixed sorting strategy of lines along which a solution is constructed. Thus, in this paper, we examine a variety of sortings based on the number, weight, weighted span, and lower bound of arcs, and test for each setting various combinations of the driving, dwelling, and transfer arcs of lines. Additionally, we assess the impact on the incremental extension of the event-activity network by minimizing resp. maximizing a connectivity measure between subsets of lines. We compare our 27 sortings on the railway instances of the benchmarking library PESPlib within the ConcurrentPESP solver framework. We are able to find five new incumbent solutions, resulting in improvements of up to 2\%.}, language = {en} }