Train Platforming Problem

The train platforming problem consists in the allocation of passenger trains to platforms in a railway station. One of the important problems a dispatcher has to solve, especially in a large railway station, is to decide, at which platform track an approaching train should arrive. There is a tool helping him in his job called the track occupancy plan. The plan specifies for each arriving or departing train the platform track along with the time slot during which the track will be occupied by the train. This paper deals with a method for computer-aided design of the track occupancy plan. The problem is formulated as a bi-criterion mixed integer programming problem. The first objective is to minimise the deviations of the arrival and departure times proposed by the model from the times specified by the timetable. The second criterion maximises the desirability of the platform tracks to be assigned to the trains. The model is solved using a lexicographic approach and the local branching algorithm. The model was verified by using the real data of Prague main station. Results of the experiments are included.