Simultaneous Schedule of Trains and Track Maintenance according to Stochastic Blockage Time

In the area of the railway infrastructure, planning for track maintenance is a challenging problem due to the coordination between train traffic and maintenance operations. In this paper, we discuss the simultaneous scheduling of trains and operations for a single-track line, where stochastic mathematical programming is applied to minimize both the travel time of trains and maintenance duration. The uncertainty in the blockage duration of track is considered in the model to reduce the impact of unexpected delays in maintenance operations. The proposed model also considers the practical aspects which has been less addressed in the previous researches regarding track maintenance. We reformulated the stochastic problem to the deterministic equivalent to facilitate solutions for realistic sizes. The computational result for a real track shows that the model can efficiently find simultaneous scheduling of trains and operations and suggest optimal blockage duration at different confidence levels. The impact of timetable comparison on the blockage duration for a heavily utilized line is also evaluated.