Joint design standard for running times, dwell times and headway times

Abstract

A punctual train service requires a feasible timetable. This paper deals with design standards for running times, dwell times, and headway times. Feedback from operations to planning is an appropriate way to determine the required standards for delivering the desired performance. This feedback has been explored by analysing the traffic process in recent months on two Dutch mainlines. A conceptual conflict model has been developed to derive an empirical relationship between headways and reactionary delays. The operational observations make up the basis for a flexible joint standard for running, dwell and headway times. The suggested standard explicitly takes conflicts into account, either preventing them by scheduling a larger headway time, or compensating for them by increasing the running time supplement of the succeeding train.