Optimizing block configuration and operation protocol for extra-long trains

Shen, Shiyu

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117605 Copy

Description

Title

Optimizing block configuration and operation protocol for extra-long trains

Author(s)

Shen, Shiyu

Issue Date

2022-12-08

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Ouyang, Yanfeng

Department of Study

Industrial&Enterprise Sys Eng

Discipline

Industrial Engineering

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Metro train
• blocking
• mixed-integer program
• vehicle routing problem
• heuristic

Abstract

In many densely populated mega-cities around the world, metro systems are becoming overly saturated by the ever-increasing travel demand, which results in overcrowded stations, excessive delay, and unsafe anxieties among riders. The concept of extra-long trains (i.e., trains longer than station platforms) was recently proposed in the literature as a promising way to increase a metro line’s capacity without additional infrastructure construction. This research develops a general modeling framework to optimize train block configuration and operation protocol of a metro line so that extra-long trains can be used under an arbitrary demand distribution and infrastructure setting. The design problem is formulated as the integration of two coupled vehicle routing problems which simultaneously optimizes the train block configuration plan, door opening strategy, stop skipping strategy, and train dispatch schedule. Building on a visualization method that efficiently checks a solution’s feasibility, this research proposes two complementing solution methods, including an adapted savings heuristic and a destroy-and-repair algorithm. A series of hypothetical examples are tested to demonstrate how the proposed solution approaches outperform an existing commercial solver even for small to moderate problem instances. Moreover, two real-world case studies, with very different demand patterns from two continents, are presented to test the effectiveness of using extra-long trains. Our results show that a metro line with extra-long train operations is capable of serving up to 15-25% more passenger demand as compared to that with only regular trains, while at the same time producing a similar or lower passenger average travel time.

Graduation Semester

2022-12

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Shiyu Shen

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