Modeling and simulation of high-speed passenger train movements in the rail line

In this paper, we propose a new formula of the real-time minimum safety headway based on the relative velocity of consecutive trains and present a dynamic model of high-speed passenger train movements in the rail line based on the proposed formula of the minimum safety headway. Moreover, we provide the control strategies of the high-speed passenger train operations based on the proposed formula of the real-time minimum safety headway and the dynamic model of highspeed passenger train movements. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed control strategies of the passenger train operations can greatly reduce the delay propagation in the high-speed rail line when a random delay occurs.

Technical Feasibility Study of Passenger Rail Service along the West Route between Las Vegas and Los Angeles

The study evaluates the feasibility of running passenger train service from Las Vegas, NV on the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR), to Barstow, on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) track, to Mojave on UPRR track again, and to Lancaster connecting Metrolink to their destinations in Southern California. In this study, the railroad infrastructure was inventoried and issues related to running the passenger service were identified. Passenger train operation was evaluated based on the Rail Traffic Controller (RTC) simulation model. The performance measures of passenger trains including travel time, overall delay and average speed are analyzed. The uncertainty in freight flow and its impact on providing the passenger service is addressed by conducting a sensitivity analysis. The conclusion is that the existing railroad infrastructure is sufficient to provide a passenger train service from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. From an operational perspective, the passenger train is not expected to influence freight trains’ performance on the existing railroads. When freight train flows are increased to 50%, the influence of passenger train service on the freight operation is still minimal. This study recommends restoring a platform at the Las Vegas Station. At the Mojave Station, special care should be given on running the passenger trains where there is no direct railroad connection from BNSF to UPRR. Platforms and walkways require construction at the Lancaster Station for transferring passengers between the Metrolink trains and X-Train. Transferring the passenger train at this station involves stopping the train on mainline and coordinating the operations between different railroads.

Coupling analysis of passenger and train flows for a large-scale urban rail transit system

Coupling analysis of passenger and train flows is an important approach in evaluating and optimizing the operation efficiency of large-scale urban rail transit(URT)systems.This study proposes a passenger–train interaction simulation approach to determine the coupling relationship between passenger and train flows.On the bases of time-varying origin–destination demand,train timetable,and network topology,the proposed approach can restore passenger behaviors in URT systems.Upstream priority,queuing process with first-in-first-serve principle,and capacity constraints are considered in the proposed simulation mechanism.This approach can also obtain each passenger’s complete travel chain,which can be used to analyze(including but not limited to)various indicators discussed in this research to effectively support train schedule optimization and capacity evaluation for urban rail managers.Lastly,the proposed model and its potential application are demonstrated via numerical experiments using real-world data from the Beijing URT system(i.e.,rail network with the world’s highest passenger ridership).