Assessing the Effects of Closure-Free Periods on Railway Intervention Costs and Service
Open access
Date
2022-09Type
- Journal Article
Abstract
Ensuring that railways provide excellent service requires the execution of maintenance interventions. As railway use intensifies, this becomes increasingly difficult due to the conflict between track possession used for train operation and the execution of interventions. One way to improve the consistency of train schedules, and thus user comfort, is to impose closure-free periods, in which no interventions are planned. The imposition of closure-free periods forces asset managers to group their interventions either before or after the closure-free periods. This encourages asset managers to exploit synergies between interventions which can reduce costs and the negative effects on users. However, it also means that maintenance interventions may need to be executed earlier or later than the times suggested when considering only their optimal life cycles. To deal with this issue, this paper investigated the effect of imposing closure-free periods on the development of intervention programs in terms of intervention costs and disruptions to service. We used a network-flow optimization model to determine the optimal intervention programs for a 5-year planning period without and with the imposition of a minimal 2-year closure-free period on a railway line in Switzerland. The effects of the closure-free period on intervention costs and service were discussed, along with the losses of executing interventions at different points in time from those suggested using optimal asset life cycles. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000547546Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Journal of Infrastructure SystemsVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
American Society of Civil EngineersSubject
Railway network; Maintenance; Intervention program; Interval planning; Closure-free periodOrganisational unit
03859 - Adey, Bryan T. / Adey, Bryan T.
02261 - Center for Sustainable Future Mobility / Center for Sustainable Future Mobility
02655 - Netzwerk Stadt u. Landschaft ARCH u BAUG / Network City and Landscape ARCH and BAUG
Funding
769373 - Future proofing strategies FOr RESilient transport networks against Ectreme Events (EC)
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