A Delay Estimation Technique for Single and Double-track Railroads

To route and schedule trains over a large complex network can be computationally intensive. One way to reduce complexity could be to “aggregate” suitable sections of a network. In this paper, we present a simulation-based technique to generate delay estimates over track segments as a function of traffic conditions, as well as network topology. We test our technique by comparing the delay estimates obtained for a network in Los Angeles with the delays obtained from the simulation model developed by Lu et al. (2004), which has been shown to be representative of the real-world delay values. Railway dispatchers could route and schedule freight trains over large networks by using our technique to estimate delay across aggregated network sections. ∗Corresponding author