Optimize Train Operation Plan of Urban Rail Transit Including Temporal Variation of Passenger Ridership During the Day

Train operation plan is one of important components of the daily operation organization of the urban rail transit system. Dynamic train operation plans during different time periods to meet the needs of passenger travel can reduce train operation costs and improve economic benefits. Defining the total cost as a combination of the cost of passenger time value and the cost of train operation, this paper sets the minimum value of the total operating cost as the goal and establishes an optimization model for evaluating and choosing train operation plans. This optimization model is validated by an example of Shenzhen Metro Line 1 whose weekday peak train operation plan is investigated. Train operation alternative plans, i.e. small marshalling of trains, a combination of long-and-short routing, and connected routing, are evaluated with the optimization model. Lingo software is used to solve the mathematical problem to obtain the optimized the train operation plan, and making decisions based on the results provide a suitable driving organization. Meanwhile, sensitivity analysis is also implemented to check the influence of different values of parameters utilized in the calculation. The example shows that the small marshalling of trains alternative has a significant optimization benefit in the context of the Shenzhen Metro Line 1 whose working day evening peak train operation scheme is investigated.