Optimal rerouting of short - turning trains during track obstructions

Railway traffic controllers have only limited decision support to deal with disruptions. The aim of this research is to provide an algorithm to compute conflict-free routes for trains that cannot continue their planned operation due to a track obstruction. In case of complete blockage, trains need to short-turn at the closest possible station to the disturbed area and provide services in the opposite direction. In such cases, a new timetable is needed to provide a plan during disruption. In this paper a rescheduling and rerouting model is used to find feasible route plans with a focus on short-turnings. The model is applied on a corridor of the Dutch railway network. The results show that such algorithm can provide real-time solutions for traffic controllers during disruption. In addition, it is shown that rerouting the short-turned trains can decrease the delay propagation to the neighboring stations significantly.