Budget-Constrained Rail Electrification Modeling Using Symmetric Traffic Assignment: A North American Case Study
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 28, Issue 2
Abstract
We consider a budget-constrained rail network electrification problem with associated changes in costs of energy usage (via path gradient and curvature), operations, and long-term maintenance. In particular, we consider that freight flows on such a network form a user equilibrium. Interactions between electric and diesel trains on the same corridor are represented with nonseparable link performance functions that nevertheless have a symmetric Jacobian. This bilevel formulation is solved for the North American railroad network using a genetic algorithm (GA), incorporating domain-specific insights to reduce the number of solutions that must be considered. We analyze solution characteristics and decision-making implications. Results show that broad connectivity would be beneficial for the most impact. Increasing demand shifts electrified corridors toward the more populous east and gulf coasts, while increased operational costs results in the electrification of routes through mountainous terrains.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank William Alexander and Karthik Velayutham for their insights and help with the TAP code implementation. This research was partially supported by the National Science Foundation (CMMI-1562291, CMMI-1826320).
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Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 28 • Issue 2 • June 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 19, 2021
Accepted: Jan 4, 2022
Published online: Feb 22, 2022
Published in print: Jun 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jul 22, 2022
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