ON-TIME: A closed-loop real-time traffic control framework in a realistic railway environment

A wide literature is available on models and tools for the optimal real-time management of railway traffi c, but the knowledge of their eff ects on real operations is still blurry and very limited due to the scarce implementation of these systems in practice. Th is paper analyses how these tools perform when interfaced in a closed-loop setup with a realistic traffi c environment. A framework is developed that couples the rescheduling tool ROMA with the microscopic simulation model EGTRAIN. Railway traffi c is managed for diff erent perturbed scenarios using a rolling horizon scheme where optimal plans are periodically computed based on current traffi c information and implemented in the simulation model. Th e closed-loop setup is investigated for diff erent combinations of its parameters relatively to quality and stability of rescheduling plans. A comparison is performed against a typical open-loop approach that implements only the plan computed on the basis of expected train entrance delays. Both the closed-loop and the open-loop approaches are evaluated against the case in which no rescheduling is considered and trains keep on following the original timetable. Results obtained for the Dutch corridor Utrecht-Den Bosch show that the closed-loop always outperforms the open-loop in terms.