TY - CHAP A1 - Schade, Stanley A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Breuer, Matthias A1 - Grimm, Boris A1 - Reuther, Markus A1 - Schlechte, Thomas A1 - Siebeneicher, Patrick T1 - Pattern Detection For Large-Scale Railway Timetables T2 - Proceedings of the IAROR conference RailLille N2 - We consider railway timetables of our industrial partner DB Fernverkehr AG that operates the ICE high speed trains in the long-distance passenger railway network of Germany. Such a timetable covers a whole year with 364 days and, typically, includes more than 45,000 trips. A rolling stock rotation plan is not created for the whole timetable at once. Instead the timetable is divided into regular invariant sections and irregular deviations (e.g. for public holidays). A separate rotation plan with a weekly period can then be provided for each of the different sections of the timetable. We present an algorithmic approach to automatically recognize these sections. Together with the supplementing visualisation of the timetable this method has shown to be very relevant for our industrial partner. Y1 - 2017 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Reuther, Markus A1 - Schlechte, Thomas A1 - Schulz, Christof A1 - Swarat, Elmar A1 - Weider, Steffen T1 - Duty Rostering in Public Transport - Facing Preferences, Fairness, and Fatigue T2 - Proceedings of Conference on Advanced Systems in Public Transport 2015 (CASPT2015) N2 - Duty rostering problems occur in different application contexts and come in different flavors. They give rise to very large scale integer programs which ypically have lots of solutions and extremely fractional LP relaxations. In such a situation, heuristics can be a viable algorithmic choice. We propose an mprovement method of the Lin-Kernighan type for the solution of duty rostering problems. We illustrate its versatility and solution quality on three different applications in public transit, vehicle routing, and airline rostering with a focus on the management of preferences, fairness, and fatigue, respectively. Y1 - 2015 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Reuther, Markus A1 - Schlechte, Thomas A1 - Waas, Kerstin A1 - Weider, Steffen T1 - Integrated Optimization of Rolling Stock Rotations for Intercity Railways JF - Transportation Science N2 - This paper proposes a highly integrated solution approach for rolling stock planning problems in the context of long distance passenger traffic between cities. The main contributions are a generic hypergraph-based mixed-integer programming model for the considered rolling stock rotation problem and an integrated algorithm for its solution. The newly developed algorithm is able to handle a large spectrum of industrial railway requirements, such as vehicle composition, maintenance constraints, infrastructure capacities, and regularity aspects. We show that our approach has the power to produce rolling stock rotations that can be implemented in practice. In this way, the rolling stock rotations at the largest German long distance operator Deutsche Bahn Fernverkehr AG could be optimized by an automated system utilizing advanced mathematical programming techniques. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2015.0633 VL - 50 IS - 3 SP - 863 EP - 877 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Blanco, Marco A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Brückner, Michael A1 - Hoang, Nam-Dung A1 - Schlechte, Thomas T1 - On the Path Avoiding Forbidden Pairs Polytope JF - Electronic Notes in Discrete Mathematics N2 - Given a directed, acyclic graph, a source and a sink node, and a set of forbidden pairs of arcs, the path avoiding forbidden pairs (PAFP) problem is to find a path that connects the source and sink nodes and contains at most one arc from each forbidden pair. The general version of the problem is NP-hard, but it becomes polynomially solvable for certain topological configurations of the pairs. We present the first polyhedral study of the PAFP problem. We introduce a new family of valid inequalities for the PAFP polytope and show that they are sufficient to provide a complete linear description in the special case where the forbidden pairs satisfy a disjointness property. Furthermore, we show that the number of facets of the PAFP polytope is exponential in the size of the graph, even for the case of a single forbidden pair. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.endm.2015.07.057 VL - 50 SP - 343 EP - 348 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Grimm, Boris A1 - Reuther, Markus A1 - Schlechte, Thomas T1 - Template-based Re-optimization of Rolling Stock Rotations JF - Public Transport N2 - Rolling stock, i.e., the set of railway vehicles, is among the most expensive and limited assets of a railway company and must be used efficiently. We consider in this paper the re-optimization problem to recover from unforeseen disruptions. We propose a template concept that allows to recover cost minimal rolling stock rotations from reference rotations under a large variety of operational requirements. To this end, connection templates as well as rotation templates are introduced and their application within a rolling stock rotation planning model is discussed. We present an implementation within the rolling stock rotation optimization framework rotor and computational results for scenarios provided by DB Fernverkehr AG, one of the leading railway operators in Europe. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12469-017-0152-4 SP - 1 EP - 19 PB - Springer ER - TY - GEN A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Sagnol, Guillaume A1 - Schlechte, Thomas A1 - Swarat, Elmar T1 - Optimal Toll Enforcement - an Integration of Vehicle Routing and Duty Rostering N2 - We present the problem of planning mobile tours of inspectors on German motorways to enforce the payment of the toll for heavy good trucks. This is a special type of vehicle routing problem with the objective to conduct as good inspections as possible on the complete network. In addition, the crews of the tours have to be scheduled. Thus, we developed a personalized crew rostering model. The planning of daily tours and the rostering are combined in a novel integrated approach and formulated as a complex and large scale Integer Program. The paper focuses first on different requirements for the rostering and how they can be modeled in detail. The second focus is on a bicriterion analysis of the planning problem to find the balance between the control quality and the roster acceptance. On the one hand the tour planning is a profit maximization problem and on the other hand the rostering should be made in a employee friendly way. Finally, computational results on real-world instances show the practicability of our method. T3 - ZIB-Report - 13-79 KW - vehicle routing KW - crew rostering KW - integer programming KW - bicriteria optimization Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-45107 SN - 1438-0064 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Reuther, Markus A1 - Schlechte, Thomas T1 - A Coarse-To-Fine Approach to the Railway Rolling Stock Rotation Problem T2 - 14th Workshop on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems N2 - We propose a new coarse-to-fine approach to solve certain linear programs by column generation. The problems that we address contain layers corresponding to different levels of detail, i.e., coarse layers as well as fine layers. These layers are utilized to design efficient pricing rules. In a nutshell, the method shifts the pricing of a fine linear program to a coarse counterpart. In this way, major decisions are taken in the coarse layer, while minor details are tackled within the fine layer. We elucidate our methodology by an application to a complex railway rolling stock rotation problem. We provide comprehensive computational results that demonstrate the benefit of this new technique for the solution of large scale problems. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2014.79 VL - 42 SP - 79 EP - 91 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Löbel, Andreas A1 - Reuther, Markus A1 - Schlechte, Thomas A1 - Weider, Steffen T1 - Rapid Branching N2 - 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. T3 - ZIB-Report - 12-10 KW - large scale optimization KW - rapid branching KW - column generation Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-14728 SN - 1438-0064 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Reuther, Markus A1 - Schlechte, Thomas A1 - Weider, Steffen T1 - Vehicle Rotation Planning for Intercity Railways N2 - This paper provides a generic formulation for rolling stock planning problems in the context of intercity passenger traffic. The main contributions are a graph theoretical model and a Mixed-Integer-Programming formulation that integrate all main requirements of the considered Vehicle-Rotation-Planning problem (VRPP). We show that it is possible to solve this model for real-world instances provided by our industrial partner DB Fernverkehr AG using modern algorithms and computers. T3 - ZIB-Report - 12-11 KW - rolling-stock-planning KW - mixed-integer-programming KW - hypergraphs KW - column generation KW - rapid branching Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-14731 SN - 1438-0064 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sahin, Guvenc A1 - Ahmadi, Amin A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Schlechte, Thomas T1 - Multi-period line planning with resource transfers JF - Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies N2 - 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 a cost-oriented approach considering transfer of resources during a finite length planning horizon of multiple periods. We use real-life public transportation network data for our computational results. 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 period lengths along with the problem parameters that are significant for and sensitive to the optimality of solutions. Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2020.102726 VL - 119 SP - 102726 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Klug, Torsten A1 - Reuther, Markus A1 - Schlechte, Thomas T1 - Does Laziness Pay Off? - A Lazy-Constraint Approach to Timetabling T2 - 22nd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2022) N2 - 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. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2022.11 VL - 106 SP - 11:1 EP - 11:8 PB - Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schlechte, Thomas A1 - Borndörfer, Ralf A1 - Denißen, Jonas A1 - Heller, Simon A1 - Klug, Torsten A1 - Küpper, Michael A1 - Lindner, Niels A1 - Reuther, Markus A1 - Söhlke, Andreas A1 - Steadman, William T1 - Timetable Optimization for a Moving Block System JF - Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management N2 - We present an optimization model which is capable of routing and ordering trains on a microscopic level under a moving block regime. Based on a general timetabling definition (GTTP) that allows the plug in of arbitrarily detailed methods to compute running and headway times, we describe a layered graph approach using velocity expansion, and develop a mixed integer linear programming formulation. Finally, we present promising results for a German corridor scenario with mixed traffic, indicating that applying branch-and-cut to our model is able to solve reasonably sized instances with up to hundred trains to optimality. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrtpm.2022.100315 SN - 2210-9706 VL - 22 SP - 100315 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schlechte, Thomas A1 - Blome, Christian A1 - Gerber, Stefan A1 - Hauser, Stefan A1 - Kasten, Jens A1 - Müller, Gilbert A1 - Schulz, Christof A1 - Thüring, Michel A1 - Weider, Steffen T1 - The Bouquet of Features in Rolling Stock Rotation Planning T2 - Conference Proceedings RailBelgrade 2023 N2 - Rolling stock is one of the major assets for a railway transportation company. Hence, their utilization should be as efficiently and effectively as possible. Railway undertakings are facing rolling stock scheduling challenges in different forms - from rather idealized weekly strategic problems to very concrete operational ones. Thus, a vast of optimization models with different features and objectives exist. Thorlacius et al. (2015) provides a comprehensive and valuable collection on technical requirements, models, and methods considered in the scientific literature. We contribute with an update including recent works. The main focus of the paper is to present a classification and elaboration of the major features which our solver R-OPT is able to handle. Moreover, the basic optimization model and algorithmic ingredients of R-OPT are discussed. Finally, we present computational results for a cargo application at SBB CARGO AG and other railway undertakings for passenger traffic in Europe to show the capabilities of R-OPT. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://easychair.org/publications/preprint/Nms6 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Şahin, Güvenç A1 - Lindner, Niels A1 - Schlechte, Thomas ED - Pardalos, P. M. ED - Prokopyev, O. A. T1 - Line Planning Problem T2 - Encyclopedia of Optimization Y1 - 2023 SN - 978-3-030-54621-2 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54621-2_782-1 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - Springer International Publishing CY - Cham ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Gamrath, Gerwin A1 - Reuther, Markus A1 - Schlechte, Thomas A1 - Swarat, Elmar T1 - An LP-based heuristic for Inspector Scheduling T2 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling - PATAT 2021: Volume I N2 - 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. Y1 - 2021 UR - https://patatconference.org/patat2020/proceedings/ VL - 1 SP - 77 EP - 86 ER -