The Effects of Shorter, More Frequent Trains on Railroad Classification Yards: A Computer Simulation

Details

• Creators:
  Eberhardt, Julian S
• Corporate Creators:
  Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Freight cars
  • Car distribution (Railroads)
  • Car utilization (Railroads)
  • Freight service
  • Simulation
  • Classification yards
• Resource Type:
  Thesis
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Northwestern University
• Abstract:
  The question as to whether to operate shorter, more frequent trains between nodal points in a railroad is of increasing interest to the railroad industry today. The additional operating expense might be justified by improved freight car utilization alone. In addition, given the existence of the technology to automate road train operation and the evidence of a relaxing work rules climate, management may soon be able to substantially reduce operating cost on a per-train operated basis, thereby making the short train concept even more attractive. ; Therefore, it is timely to consider the effects of the shorter train idea on the nodes of the network; specifically, the effects of classification yards. A digital computer simulation model is suggested. The development of a general model, applicable to all yards, is described. The model considers road trains from arrival through the switching process. These trains compete with other traffic for the processing facilities. The general model can be applied to any yard by specifying the proper physical and traffic characteristics. For a specific yard, delay times to traffic are compared when road trains are input to the model with various frequencies and train lengths while total traffic is held constant.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/80042/dot_80042_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.15 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:68609c5a8979b5fe309ef6ae9a4b595be2a8e4a4005fcfb1f1a03954f0b6c00232872b465115668af0bba44e0f57829221e20117f932e73740744acdbf9f84a1