Improvement of operational planning for shunting service on non-public railway lines

Abstract

Abstract This article describes the problems, which arise when planning the shunting work on industrial railway transport, as well as suggests the ways of solving them. There are special feature specified here, which differentiate the shunting work at enterprises from the work, performed by the main transport. The necessity has been revealed and explained for the development of an automated software system, which will allow objectively evaluating the operational situation and choosing the most suitable option for performing the shunting work. There are basic optimization techniques described, which are used in the software product developed, as well as their importance and necessity has been substantiated. The main methods include: improvement with the help of registering the radii and curvature radii and curves of traffic areas; consideration of dependence of fuel consumption by shunting locomotives from the execution modes of shunting half-runs and the availability of time reserves; route selection depending on its length, the number of railroad switches, speed restrictions and travel time. Combination of existing methods of improving the shunting work with new proposals in one software package will allow receiving a convenient tool, assisting in operational planning, as well as in the identification of traffic bottlenecks and their management strategies. Computerization and automation of transport processes will have a positive impact on the development of connecting tracks and will help to improve the interrelation of the industrial and main line.