Cyclic Railway Timetable Optimization

Cyclic Railway Timetable Optimization describes mathematical models\nand solution methods for constructing high quality cyclic railway timetables.\nIn a cyclic timetable, a train for a certain destination leaves\na certain station at the same time every cycle time, say every half an\nhour, every hour, or every two hours. Cyclic timetables are widely used\nin European railways. They offer a clear and transparant product to the\nrailway customers, who only need to memorize the minutes of the hour\nat which their regular trains depart. Because of the important role of\ntimetable planning for railway operators and railway infrastructure\nmanagers, models and methods for optimizing cyclic railway timetables\nprovide a valuable tool for these organizations. The thesis presents\na mathematical model for optimizing cyclic railway timetables, and\nstudies the theoretical aspects behind the model. The investigated\naspects include cyclic sequencing, periodic tensions, cycles in graphs,\ncycle bases of graphs, algorithms for constructing cycle bases, and\ncutting planes for the model. The developed theoretical ideas are\ntested on some real-life cycl