Defining and quantifying railway service to plan infrastructure interventions

Railway networks are constructed, maintained and developed to provide service to stakeholders. The timing of infrastructure interventions depends on the costs of intervening and the risks of not intervening. Determining the optimal trade-off requires a rigorous definition of the service provided and a way to quantify it. In this paper, such a definition and method of service quantification for the railway infrastructure is provided. Service is defined as a function of how every stakeholder is affected by the changes in the state of the railway infrastructure. It is quantified by estimating the value of each unit of service provided. This definition of service enables the quantification of railway service for all the affected stakeholders when the infrastructure state improves – for example, due to maintenance – or deteriorates – for example, due to fatigue.