High-Speed Railway EMUs’ Circulation Plan Optimization: A Two-Stage Optimization Algorithm Based on Column Generation

Considering the characteristics of China's high-speed railway network and the allocation structure of Electric Multiple Units (EMUs), the EMUs operation management mode provides an effective technical route for EMUs route planning optimization. To reduce the number of EMUs, key factors such as the EMUs mileage, time limit, maintenance model, maintenance capability, night accommodation capacity, maintenance management mode, and train tasks are considered as constraints. The number of maintenance tasks is also the objective so that the EMUs route planning solution method is more integrated with actual production needs, and an optimization model of EMUs route planning is established to overcome the shortcomings of previous studies that did not sufficiently consider EMUs maintenance. To verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed model and method of the proposed two-stage optimization algorithm based on column generation, a case study on the preparation of EMUs circulation planning for the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway network is conducted, and the results are analyzed.