Last Train Rapid Synchronizing Approach for Maximum OD Accessibility with Passengers’ Effective Travel Route
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 149, Issue 1
Abstract
During the last train period, passengers will not successfully reach their destination if the timetables of the various transfer station lines are not coordinated. This paper proposes a general model to optimize the last train timetables of urban rail networks and maximize origin-destination (OD) accessibility for metro networks during the last train period. By using a generalized cost function, all transportation activities involved in an urban rail network are effectively described, and a generalized cost function is established for the last train as a criterion for its accessibility. A mixed-integer programming model that pays more attention to passengers’ effective travel routes and accessibility of the entire OD route is proposed. A genetic algorithm combined with a -shortest path algorithm is developed to calculate a rescheduling solution within a satisfactory running time (e.g., 35 min). Finally, comparative experiments are conducted using the Xi’an urban rail network as a case study. The results show that the objective function of OD accessibility is more favorable to last train passengers than to the number of successful transfer passengers at transfer stations. This increases the number of passengers successfully arriving at their destination by 12.03%. The proposed methodology assist in cost-effective coordination of the last train timetables and make accurate recommendations to improve passenger OD accessibility using information guidance.
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Data Availability Statement
Station ridership data and train timetables used during the study were provided by Xi’an Metro Co., Ltd. Direct requests for these materials may be made to the provider as indicated in the Acknowledgments.
Acknowledgments
The authors confirm contributions to the study as follows: study conception and design: Shuang Zhang, Chaoqun Ma, and Quan Chen; data collection: Shuang Zhang and Chen Ma; analysis and interpretation of results: Shuang Zhang and Quan Chen; draft manuscript preparation: Shuang Zhang, Chaoqun Ma, Chen Ma, and Sijia Sun; revisions and responses: Shuang Zhang, Sijia Sun, and Yanqiu Cheng. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript. The authors would like to thank Xi’an Metro Group Co., Ltd. for the station ridership data and train timetables.
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Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 149 • Issue 1 • January 2023
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 28, 2022
Accepted: Aug 11, 2022
Published online: Oct 29, 2022
Published in print: Jan 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Mar 29, 2023
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- Wenkai Xu, Last train timetabling with transfer accessibility in metro networks: integer linear programing model and schedule-based transfer network, Measurement and Control, 10.1177/00202940231186674, 57, 1, (30-39), (2023).
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