Collaborative rescheduling of train timetables to relieve passenger congestions in an urban rail transit network: a rolling horizon approach

• Published in: International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology
• Main Authors: Fangsheng Wang, Pengling Wang, Xiaoyu Hao, Rudong Yang, Ruihua Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2025-09-01
• Subjects: Urban rail transit (URT) network; Timetable rescheduling and coordinating; Large passenger flow (LPF) control; Rolling horizon approach
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2046043024001035

At certain urban rail transit (URT) stations, large events, emergencies, or holidays often cause a rapid surge in passenger flow, referred to as large passenger flow (LPF) events. The passenger congestion will spread quickly via transfer stations and affect other stations and lines in the URT network. This study develops a timetable rescheduling and coordinating method for the URT network under LPF events. Firstly, a collaborative adjustment model of train timetables with a backup-vehicle strategy is formulated to simultaneously consider rescheduling and coordinating problems, to reduce the congestion influence for a URT network. Then, a rolling horizon approach is developed to divide the whole adjustment problem into several decision-making stages to ensure solution efficiency. In each decision-making stage, the influence of LPF propagation within the URT network is firstly evaluated. Based on the congestion evaluation results, the proposed method determines whether it is necessary to adjust timetables of the LPF line or other lines. The proposed method is applied to the Xi’an Metro network in China. The results indicate that the proposed method can effectively evaluate and adjust the train timetables for large URT networks under LPF events.