DIFFERENT UTILISATION OF THE RAILWAY NETWORK: FLEXIBLE TIME/ROUTE WINDOWS

The discussion on better utilisation of the railway infrastructure is often limited to the introduction of new interlocking and control systems and, more recently, the homogenisation of the timetable. An innovation with a greater impact is the different utilisation concept, which is featured by a more dynamic use of the infrastructure. A transportation plan and a traffic plan take over the functions of the timetable. Flexible time/route windows in the traffic plan replace the time/route lines of the timetable, which creates explicit freedom of control for a dynamic traffic control system. The concept yields benefits in terms of: flexibility (it is easier to execute last minute changes); reliability/punctuality (trains do not have to wait for each other without reason); and in terms of cost reduction (it is possible to circumvent bottlenecks in the infrastructure capacity at expensive locations). (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E206312.