Evaluating the potential benefits of a rail traffic movement planning algorithm

Railroads have large investments in capital items such as track, trains and terminals. Optimizing the use of their resources has the potential of enormous payback. Precision Train Control/sup TM/ (PTC) is an effort to optimize the flow of trains on the railroad line in order to increase the return on capital. This paper describes a study whose purpose was to quantify the performance improvements that could be anticipated with PTC. A large-scale simulation involving approximately 1000 miles of track and 700 trains was conducted to produce an estimate of potential improvement.