An Intelligent Search Technique for Solving Train Scheduling Problems: Simulated Annealing & Constraint Satisfaction

This paper presents a hybrid scheduling technique for generating the predictive schedules of passenger trains. The algorithm, which represents a combination of simulated annealing and a constraint-based heuristic, has been designed using an object-oriented methodology and it is suitable for a primarily single-track railway with some double-track sections. The search process gets started from a good initial solution created by the scheduling heuristic and continues according to the simulated annealing search control strategy. The heuristic is also used in the neighbourhood exploration process. This hybrid approach, which solves the problem in a short span of time, increases the efficiency of the simulated annealing which is known as a slow process. Simulation experiments with the real data of manual timetables and two corridors of Iran’s railway shows the superiority of the hybrid method to the heuristic designed and the manual system in terms of the three performance measures used.