There are situations where a system in mind needs to be tested before it is built. Using modeling and simulation users can apply realistic interactions with their synthetic environments representing real world. In this study, the synthetic environment is a hardware railroad model representing a miniature of the actual size railroad. Simulation software, used to test the railroad system, consist...

The railroad industry was substantially deregulated by the Staggers Act in 1980. While railroad rates, as measured by industry-wide revenue per ton-mile, declined since that time, it is unclear why rates declined. Changes in commodity mix, length of haul, shipment size, lading weight, equipment ownership, railroad costs, competition from other modes, and demand for railroad transportation have ...

This paper proposes an ant colony optimization algorithm to assist railroad yard operational planning staff in their daily tasks. The proposed algorithm tries to minimize a multi-objective function that considers both fixed and variable transportation costs involved in moving railroad cars within the railroad yard area. This is accomplished by searching the best switch engine schedule for a giv...

T HROUGH an amendment to the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, approved by President Truman on July 31,1946, the Railroad Retirement Board was charged with the responsibility of establishing and administering a sickness insurance program for railroad employees.’ Thus, sickness benefits now form an integral part of the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance systems. The programs for p...

This paper has investigated the technology of forwarding local wagons at railroad technical stations and established need to improve it given extra downtime wagons. The main issue relates considerable combinatorial complexity tasks operational planning. Another problem is that as part conventional approach, planning a station operation considered separately. lack high-quality models for prepara...

An important factor in an efficient operation of freight railroad companies is their ability to obtain routes and schedules that improve rail network capacity utilization. In this paper we present a decision tool to aid train planners obtain quickly good quality routes and schedules for short time horizons (e.g., daily) to better manage the limited track capacity available for train movements. ...

Collapsible soils could widely be found in central part of Iran and has caused lots of problems for roads and railroads in that region. Appearance of wide cracks in the collapsible soil near the Tehran-Semnan railroad tracks has caused some worries regarding the safety and performance of the railroad. However, due to the high traffic of the railroad, it is impossible to block the road for remed...

In August 2007 Australia experienced its first outbreak of equine influenza. The disease occurred first in a quarantine station for imported horses near Sydney and subsequently escaped into the general horse population. After an extensive campaign the disease was eradicated and Australia is again recognised as free of this disease. Equine influenza was then, and is now, recognised to be the maj...

An important factor in an efficient operation of freight railroad companies is their ability to obtain routes and schedules that improve rail network capacity utilization. In this paper we present a decision tool to aid train planners obtain quickly good quality routes and schedules for short time horizons (e.g., daily) to better manage the limited track capacity available for train movements. ...

The RRB administers comprehensive retirement/survivor and unemployment/sickness benefit programs for railroad workers and their families under the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA). These programs provide income protection to railroad workers and their families during old age and in the event of disability, death, temporary unemployment, or sickness. T...