Ecodriving in high frequency rail services

In recent years an increasing attention has been paid to energy efficiency in rail transportation. The problem of energy saving involves timetable and speed profile optimization and has been widely addressed in the literature. This paper deals with the trajectory optimization within high frequency rail systems, where the service is based on a scheduled headway rather than by a timetable. In this context, the reserve time holds for the whole line and the paper provides an assessment of its optimal split amongst the sections, taking into account the possible delays. This aspect enables the evaluation of the effects of delays on the trajectories optimization effectiveness.