Simulations for train traffic flow on single-track railways with speed limits and slopes

Abstract

It might be assumed that a train should run as fast as possible to finish its trip on railway section in the shortest time. However, because of the complex operation constraints, such as speed limits, slopes, and interactions among trains, it is a difficult work to determine an optimal speed profile for a train under the consideration of saving time. This paper develops an efficient algorithm to generate the train speed profile with the minimum section trip time. Moreover, a discrete event model-based simulation approach is proposed to observe the traffic flow on single-track railways with speed limits and slopes in the moving block mode system. Extensive case studies are implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach and investigate the influence that time headway and dwelling time bring to energy consumption and line clear time.

Keywords:

• train traffic flow
• discrete event simulation
• speed profile
• moving block mode

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the valuable comments and suggestions of the referees and Editors. This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 71401008, 71301042, 71431003, 71571002), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Postdoctoral fund Project (Nos. 2013M530295, 2014T70588), and 1000 Plan for Foreign Talent (No. WQ20123400070).