Aim and Scope of RailZurich2009 and IAROR

Aim and Scientific Issues for the Seminar

The success of the first two International Seminars on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis in Delft 2005 and Hannover 2007 will be followed up by the 3rd Seminar in Switzerland. The 3rd International Seminar on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis will contribute to interdisciplinary diffusion in the railway operations research area through the discussion of analytical, combinatorial and simulation approaches and project results by engineers, mathematicians, economists and computer scientists. The following research questions focussing on high quality railway timetabling, efficient and reliable operations of infrastructure and trains will be tackled during the Seminar, among others:

• How to model capacity and robustness in saturated railway networks?
• Which is the impact of network timetable stability on punctuality?
• How to investigate systematically the generation mechanisms of timetable perturbations?
• Which is the optimal size, temporal and spatial distribution of timetable margins?
• How punctuality standards can be implemented in capacity estimation models?
• Which approaches are suitable for analysis and modelling of the distribution of running, boarding/alighting and dwell times?
• What is the impact of interoperability requirements (e.g. STI) and traffic control systems (e.g. ERTMS) on capacity and reliability?
• Which objectives and constraints are suitable to optimise network timetables?
• How to estimate optimal values for track occupancy, frequency and level-of-service?
• Which methods are useful to evaluate timetable quality and operations performance?
• How to integrate capacity modelling / methods for lines and stations?
• Which methods exist to optimize signalling and train control systems performances in case of heterogeneous traffic?
• How can the efficiency of rescheduling measures in networks be estimated?
• How to model the optimal allocation of rolling stock and rotation of train crews in planning and during incident management?
• Which is the impact of punctuality, comfort and information on customer satisfaction?
• Are stochastic analytical and simulation models sufficiently validated?
• How to implement dispatching options in rescheduling models?
• How to use rescheduling and other methods to reduce energy consumption?
• What are promising methods to improve the production accuracy?

Young Railway Operations Research Award

Excellent papers on innovative research carried out and presented by participants not older than 35 years are eligible for the YOUNG RAILWAY OPERATIONS RESEARCH AWARD sponsored by the Board of IAROR. The Award is worth € 2,500. The winner will be announced during the Seminar.

Aim and Scope of the IAROR

The International Association of Railway Operations Research (IAROR) was founded on 8 June 2005 during the 1st International Seminar on Railway Operations Modeling and Analysis at Delft University of Technology. IAROR stated a strong growth of membership and has actually 116 members from 19 countries and 4 continents. IAROR combines the expertise of academic and professional railway research with the aim of:

• enhancing the quality of service for railway passengers and customers
• improving the effectiveness and efficiency of capacity management, timetabling, traffic management and
• ensuring the safety of railway operations.

IAROR stimulates innovative theoretical approaches, high-tech concepts, new technological developments and dynamic decision support systems that contribute to a higher flexibility, performance and punctuality of trains operating in heterogeneeous networks (lines and junctions). IAROR contributes to the development of new international standards for railway capacity and traffic management by integration of the state-of-the-art from different scientific disciplines as engineering, mathematics, physics, economics and computer science.

IAROR aims at becoming the Network of Excellence in the field of railway operations research and an acknowledged advisor to governments, railway infrastructure managers, train operating companies and the industrial suppliers with regard to the development and evaluation of research programs, innovation strategies, directives and norms for railway operations.

International transfer of knowledge and co-operation will be strengthened via the creation of an open-access internet portal where researchers can offer or identify recent findings, make contacts, exchange views, by publication of papers in the Journal of Railway Operations Research (JROR) and by organising the International Seminar on Railway Operations Research (ISROR).

Additional Information

More information about IAROR and the seminar is available on the IAROR homepage.