ONTIME, for creating and managing timetables

Transcription

1 , for creating and managing timetables

2 Creation and Management of Timetables Passenger satisfaction is at the heart of any transport operation. And we know that passengers value, amongst other things, punctuality and timetables that match their travelling needs. To achieve this, transportation companies need to simultaneously combine passenger demand, network capacity and vehicle availability, while maximizing revenue. Not forgetting to address public and company concerns towards energy savings and environmental protection. Time and space (network routes), taking the form of a timetable, are therefore valuable resources that need to be scheduled and used in an optimised way. Timetable schedulers want to be able to define and later manage timetables that cater for multiple aspects easily and as fast and optimally as possible. Objectives are accomplished when the highest company performance is achieved, including profit maximisation. ONTIME is a standard decision-support product that creates and manages optimised timetables with the creation of services and network allocation over time, considering passenger demand and operational constraints/rules (e.g. network capacity). ONTIME produces annual timetables down to day-to-day adjustments due to special events, such as holidays, large-scale events, and track engineering work. ONTIME guarantees all of this, and more. Advantages + Knowledge Better understanding of the timetabling process Knowledge becomes an asset Key Performance Indicators (KPI) What-if scenarios + Efficacy Better transport service level More reliable & robust timetables Quick & easy recovery from disruptions + Efficiency OPTIMISED SCHEDULES & PROCESS Network usage costs significant drop Process time huge reduction (days vs months) To guarantee an optimised solution, ONTIME is fully customisable to the reality and needs of each individual transportation company, while including significant parameterisation capabilities. 2 SISCOG OPTIMISING THE RESOURCES OF THE WORLD

3 Common key features Powerful optimisation capabilities Optimisers combine the use of Artificial Intelligence and Operational Research techniques Optimisation algorithms minimise a cost function and are guided by user defined parameters or previously inserted constraints/ rules and goals Optimisers find an optimised solution but can be fine-tuned to specific goals through flexible manual operations Scheduling and rescheduling capabilities, where new timetables are produced from scratch, or existing timetables are adjusted to new conditions signalled by the system Handles several kinds of fixed-route transport operations (e.g. railways, metros, buses) Full flexibility in operational rules specification and possibility of rule sharing across modules Attractive and intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), with similar look & feel across all modules Graphical representation using Gantt charts, time-space diagrams and geographic maps Context-sensitive information and online help Selection highlighting Colour coding (e.g. trips) Zoom control Operational rules are validated and conflicts automatically flagged Drag & Drop Undo/Redo manual operations Search, Filter and Sort (e.g. train ID) Empowering the user at all levels, ONTIME caters for multilevel decision-support through manual, semi-automatic and automatic modes of operation. Examples of optimisation parameters Calculates costs and KPI s, and compares them across different timetables Generates statistics & reports, which can be displayed, printed and saved in different formats (e.g. xml, rtf). Includes timetable output for both staff and passengers Multilevel decision-support with very intuitive GUI and several usability features. The process can be started in any mode and resort to any mode at any time Manual mode, acts as a computer-aided graphical scheduling tool signalling, marking and explaining violations Semi-automatic mode, suggests different timetable alternatives Automatic mode, presents an optimised solution, either using default parameters or previously inserted constraints/rules and goals, and allows for what-if scenarios Handles midnight crossing, time zones and daylight savings Interface with third-party systems easily achieved through standard protocols Available in multiple languages SISCOG OPTIMISING THE RESOURCES OF THE WORLD 3

4 Short-term Scheduler Deals with expected changes to the timetables for specific dates Similar features as the Long-term Scheduler module, but dealing with specific dates Deals with expected changes to the regular timetable, such as holidays or special orders of transportation services (e.g. new special trains or change in passenger demand) Modules key features Long-term Scheduler Generates the master timetable for generic dates (e.g. regular weekdays) Creates timetables considering both economic rules, such as number of trains and seats to be offered or service classes, and operational rules, such as adding empty stock trips to balance vehicles in the depots or satisfy parking capacity Imports a demand matrix, per line, to define the commercial offer of transportation services on different routes, while complying with vehicle rules Allows network representation, including mainline tracks, stations, configurations, and other elements Allows trip building, for normal and special services, with capabilities for handling complex service demands, displaying multi-line trip patterns, and detection and solving of segment track or station conflicts Allows for timetable performance evaluation from a passenger perspective, by recording average connection times for all trips Allows validation of network usage Identifies capacity violations, including rules, such as headway, single track occupancy, platform length, and turnaround time Identifies available free slots for additional transportation services Interacts with the network owner system for detailed validation of the produced timetables Trips produced (top panel) and offered capacity compared with demand/ridership (bottom panel) 4 SISCOG OPTIMISING THE RESOURCES OF THE WORLD

5 Through strong reporting capabilities, ONTIME provides both schedulers and management the ability to improve their long-term decisions, such as defining the commercial transportation offer that best meets passenger demand and quality expectations, while maximising revenue. Real-time Dispatcher Deals with unexpected changes during the day of operation Monitors and provides a global view of the operation, receiving information of events (e.g. train delays) in real-time and representing their impact on timetables Quickly reschedules timetables in case of a disruption, while complying with all operational rules Activity Recorder Records the timetables actually performed Activity Reporter Generates reports for Operations and Management, and information for third-party systems Web Services Application that enables web publication of the timetable for the current day, including all official amendments and all timetables for upcoming days Long-term Data Manager and Short-term Data Manager Provides central management of data, guaranteeing consistency and completeness, and communication with third-party systems Trips produced for the Blue and Orange lines that share part of the network, in a time-space diagram (top panel) and Gantt chart (bottom panel) SISCOG OPTIMISING THE RESOURCES OF THE WORLD 5

6 Detailing our excellence in Optimisation ONTIME is equipped with powerful optimisers capable of obtaining optimised solutions for different kinds of scheduling problems Long-term scheduling Equipped with three optimisers: (1) performs line planning, which obtains a set of service lines (train routes with corresponding train hour frequency) that satisfy a given passenger demand taking into consideration fleet size constraints; (2) obtains periodic timetables (e.g. timetables that repeat themselves over a fixed period of time) based on the service lines produced with the previous optimiser; (3) obtains nonperiodic timetables for metro systems, which support simple linear, circular, Y shaped, and X shaped lines, and other configurations where different types of services have to run on the same physical tracks ONTIME optimisers obtain solutions that optimise several goals at the same time. Popular, but sometimes conflicting goals are: Long-term scheduling In line planning, maximise revenue (according to the covered passenger demand), minimise operational costs (track slot allocation and vehicle usage cost), and maximise passenger satisfaction (e.g. reach final destination with minimum amount of transfers); in periodic timetables, minimise the overall passenger travel time which includes synchronizing arrivals and departures of connecting trains; in non-periodic timetables, making sure that transitions between different train hour frequencies do not have a fluctuating behaviour ONTIME optimisers use state-of-the-art technology. In the line planning optimiser, the techniques used are genetic algorithms, dynamic programming and other metaheuristics. In the periodic timetable optimiser, the techniques used are modulo network simplex, integer linear programming, constraint programming, and greedy algorithms. In the nonperiodic timetables optimiser, a heuristic algorithm is used to perform the transitions of different timetable patterns obtained with a periodic timetable generation algorithm. 6 SISCOG OPTIMISING THE RESOURCES OF THE WORLD

7 The modularity of ONTIME enables the introduction of different modules in the company s process, at its own pace. ONTIME FLEET and CREWS complete our SISCOG Suite solution for complete and integrated resource scheduling and management. Find out more. SISCOG OPTIMISING THE RESOURCES OF THE WORLD 7

8 Headquarters Campo Grande, 378-3º Lisboa Portugal Tel.: Fax: Oporto Office Bessa Leite Offices, R. Brigadeiro Nunes da Ponte, 114-3º Porto Portugal Tel.: Fax: