Development of a high-level feasibility analysis model for the selection of railway upgrade options

Currently, many railway systems need to be upgraded to meet the demand for rapidly increasing railway capability, while there is a lack of the right models and tools required to support the early decision making stage of railway system upgrade projects. A rail selection upgrade process, combining macroscopic and microscopic simulation, has been developed to find appropriate and systematically selected solutions for railway system upgrade projects. As part of the approach, a high-level feasibility analysis model is developed in this research for determining serious candidate solutions from a large number of possible upgrade options in a quick and effective way. This paper outlines the development process and verification of this model's feasibility.