Model and Algorithm of the Car-to-Block Assignment Plan on Railway Network

The car-to-block assignment plan (CBAP) is one of sub-problems and foundation of train formation plan (TFP). When two 0-1 decision variables corresponding to block plan and car-to-block assignment were introduced, a model of generation all possible CBAPs was established with the constraints of non-circuit, maximum frequency of reclassification, cross relation and cutting off unfavorable plans. In block network (service network) whose nodes represent stations and arcs stand for blocks between two stations, a CBAP is equivalent to a shortest path (SP). Based on this, a backtracking algorithm was provided. Finally, the practical feasibility and effectiveness was verified by an example.