A Novel Approach to Railway Planning

Abstract

Today, detailed railway timetables in Sweden are published up to a year in advance, despite being based on volatile facts. We describe a new railway planning concept for Banverket, the Swedish Rail Administration, that aims to reduce the workload and increase the timetable quality, thus making railway traffic more cost-effective and attractive. The concept distinguishes between deliverables and production plans. The former are settled early and involve a selection of arrival and departure times that Banverket promises to deliver to the operators. The latter are fixed later, and only when sufficient information is available.