Chapter three

Railway planning studies

Pietro Proietti Senior Transport planning Expert in Italferr

Biniyam A Abera Lecturer at Addis Ababa University, AAiT

 CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

2. RAILWAY CAPACITY

3. OPERATIONAL COST METHODOLOGY

INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

A railway project involves main technical

specializations:
• Operation and transport
• Environmental, archaeology and architecture
• Installations
• Hydraulics
• Civil works
• Alignments
• Electric traction
• Signalling system
• Economic and financial analysis

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

Structure of railway project

Input Data Collection

Design, construction,
operation and maintenance

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

Input data collections:

• Terms of Reference
• Previous Study annex to Agreement
• Standard – AREMA, Technical Specifications for
Interoperability, European agreement on main
international railway lines (AGC)
• National and International Rules

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

The AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering contains

principles, data, specifications, plans and economics
pertaining to the engineering, design and construction
of the fixed plant of railways (except signals and
communications), and allied services and facilities.

20 chapters are contained in four volumes,

updated annually by the technical committees.

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT
The AREMA Communications & Signals
Manual of Recommended Practices contains
recommended practices for railway
communications and signaling consultants use
the Manual's recommendations as a basis for
design.
Many railroads use the Manual as a basis for
their track standards and may add to it to
describe their specific needs

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

TSI: Technical Specification of Interoperability

Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs)

are the specifications by which each subsystem or
subsystem part is covered in order to meet the
essential requirements and to ensure the
interoperability of the trans-European high speed
and conventional rail systems.

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

Technical specifications for interoperability (TSIs) for

trans- European conventional rail systems are for
the subsystems:
• Locomotives and passenger rolling stock (May
2011)
• Infrastructure (may 2011)
• Energy (may 2011)
• Telematics applications for passenger service
(may 2011)
• Noise (April 2011)

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

Technical specifications for interoperability (TSIs) for

Trans- European conventional rail systems are for
the subsystems:
• Persons with reduced mobility (2008)
• Safety in railway tunnels (2008)
• Telematics applications for freight service (2006)
• Control command and signaling (2006)
• Rolling stock – freight wagons (2006)
• Operation and traffic management(2006)

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INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

SEQUENCE OF DESIGN STAGES

Concept Design

Feasibility Study

Preliminary Design

Detail Design

Realization

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

During the Concept Design, the first analysis of

the project are made.
In particular, for a railway project, the Concept
Design develops the first alignment hypothesis
and a basic operation strategy.

Sometimes, Concept Design are included in a

Master Plan of a multi-national study.

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT
The purpose of a feasibility study is to determine whether
the engineer's project can proceed into the design phase.
This is based on two criteria: the project needs to be based
on an achievable idea, and it needs to be within cost
constraints. It is important to have an engineer with
experience and good judgment to be involved in this portion
of the feasibility study.
Establishing design requirements is one of the most
important elements in the design process. The design
requirements control the design of the project throughout
the engineering design process.
Some design requirements include hardware and software
parameters, maintainability, availability, and testability

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT
Step 1 - Define of the Layout and Plan Profile with iterative process

Transport Running
Study time

Transport Operation
Layout
demand Analysis

Plan
Civil Works Alignment
Profile

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT
Transport
Study
• First all, Transport Study gives
Transport demand.
Transport Operation
• The Operation Analysis use
Demand of service to issues first
Layout
demand Analysis

Layout of railway.
Plan
Profile
Alignment
• Then Alignment issues first Plan
Profile.
Transport
Study
Running
time
• Operation Analysis update
Running Time.
• Transport Study verifies/update
demand of service
Operation
Analysis

• Finally Update of Layout and

Plan Profile are done.
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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT
Transport Study

• Analysis of transport demand

• Define of transport supply
• Define Transport demand - Forecast
daily trips of passengers and goods

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 TRANSPORT STUDY
The required displacement demand born, people or
people in charge of the goods, to move from an origin
to a destination while using transport infrastructure.
Modality by which such movements occur depend
particularly on the configuration of the offer.

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 TRANSPORT STUDY
Transportation forecasting is the process of estimating the number
of passengers or freight that will use a specific transportation
facility in the future.
Traffic forecasting begins with the collection of data on current
traffic.
This traffic data is combined with other known data, such as
population, employment, trip rates, travel costs, etc., to develop a
traffic demand model for the current situation.
Feeding it with predicted data for population, employment, etc.
results in estimates of future traffic, typically estimated for each
segment of the transportation infrastructure in question, e.g., for
each roadway segment or railway station.

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 TRANSPORT STUDY
The main objectives of the study are :
• Studying the growth of transport demand,
particularly related to the proposed railway.
• Define forecast fluxes of passengers and cargo

Current network and Project network and

traffic flows traffic flows

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 TRANSPORT STUDY

Input:

DATA Population data

ENTRY Current traffic flows
Existing transportation network
Travel time
Transport network referred to the project
scenario

OUTPUT Output data:

DATA Traffic flows in the project scenario

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 TRANSPORT STUDY
Traffic forecasts are used for several key purposes in
transportation policy, planning, and engineering: to calculate the
capacity of infrastructure, e.g., how many lanes a bridge should
have; to estimate the financial and social viability of projects, e.g.,
using cost-benefit analysis and social impact assessment; and to
calculate environmental impacts, e.g., air pollution and noise.

Traffic demand forecast is the data input used to design a railway station.

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 TRANSPORT STUDY
Transport
Transport study Transport
Demand supply

Traffic flows

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 TRANSPORT STUDY
Why rush hour

Time interval in which the

traffic flow is maximum. Ideal
for sizing.

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 TRANSPORT STUDY

GenerationModel
Auxiliary modules
allow the construction
of the network (graph)
Distribution Model and calculating the
travel time

Modal share assignment

Route choice Model

Assignment

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 TRANSPORT STUDY
Model "has 4 level“. This answers to
following questions:

Generation 1. How many displacement takes place

in a time period?

Distribution 2. How these trips are distributed?

3. Which mode of transport is used?

Modal share
4. What are the selected route?
Route choice

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT
Operation Analysis

• Analysis of daily passengers and good.

• Define consist for each service
passengers and freight.
• Define number of daily train.
• Define of railway layout - station,
passing loops, wayside maintenance.
• Define hourly frequency.
• Define running time.
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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT
Alignment

• Define of corridor.
• Define alignment on base of railway
layout and cartographic data.
• Issue plan profile.

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT
Step 2 - Define Operating Plan
• Define rolling stock specifications
• Define timetable.
• Verify timetable and locations of passing tracks.
Technologies

Operation Operating
Layout Environmental
Analysis Plan

Facilities Capacity
– Focus 1

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INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

Operation
Analysis
Layout
Operating
Plan
• Operation issues Layout and
first Operating Plan.
• Running Time, Trains
Performance, Fleet, Rolling
stock specifications are
defined.
Technologies Specifics
• Facilities designs plants and
buildings
Operating
Plan
Environmental • Environmental defines
Mitigation
Facilities
Mitigation
• Technologies defines
Specifications

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

Focus 2

Operation Analysis
Operational
Costs

Operating
Technologies
Plan

Environmental Costs

Facilities
Economic and
Civil works financial analysis

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 INTRODUTION TO RAILWAY PROJECT

Operation Analysis • Operation issues

Operating
Final Operating
Plan
Plan.
Operational Costs
• Rolling Stock,
Operating
Plan
Rolling stock
Technologies,
Technologies
Environmental,
Environmental Costs Facilities and
Facilities Civil Works
Civil works define costs.
Costs • Economic and
financial analysis
Economic and
financial analysis issues cost-
benefit analysis
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 RAILWAY CAPACITY

“Capacity as such does not exist. Railway

infrastructure capacity depends on the way it
is utilized.”
 DIFFERENT VIEWS OF CAPACITY
Due to differences in requirements, capacity is viewed
differently from the position of the market,
infrastructure planning, timetabling and operations
 DIFFERENT VIEWS OF CAPACITY
While capacity demands from the market standpoint are oriented
towards satisfying peak values, infrastructure planning by contrast
must be oriented towards a definition of capacity that, on average,
guarantees profitable utilization of the infrastructure.
From a timetable point of view, capacity considerations bring
together a given infrastructure and existing demands for train
paths.
From an operational point of view, on the other hand, the capacity
situation is always in flux and depends on current infrastructure
availability, progress with building measures, delays, diversions
and the number of additional trains.
Each of these different situations is correct in terms of its own
specific background.
The parameters mean, however, that each viewpoint leads to a
different capacity-requirement result.
 DEFINITION OF CAPACITY

The capacity of a railway infrastructure is:

• The total number of possible paths in a defined time
window, according to specific assumptions;
• Affected by nodes, lines or part of the network;
• market-oriented

Should be take into account the specific needs of

maintenance

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 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

The goal of Capacity Analysis is to determinate the

maximum number of train that can operate on a
railway network in a defined time window
Different approaches are possible:
• Analytic Model (UIC Fiche 405-1R);
• Traffic Analysis (Potthoff Method);
• Specific software (Compression Method - UIC
Fiche 406)

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 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

Capacity is mainly affected by:

• Train paths speed
– Different speed for different train type
• Infrastructure layout
– Single Track/Double Track
– Passing/Crossing Loop average spacing
– Significant Point
• Timetable structure
• Signaling Headway
– Minimum Headway allowed by signaling system
• Maintenance needs
• Operation Strategy
 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

Timetable Structure
 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

Analytic Model (UIC Fiche 405-1R):

Method FICHE UIC 405-1:

T
L
t fm  t r  t zu
 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

INPUT:
tfm – is the average time span at minimal sequence of
trains;
tr – is the running time margin ;
tzu – is the added time.

OUTPUT:
L - is the capacity of a section expressed in number of trains in
period T.
 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

Operation on double track

(nij t f ij )
t fm
nij

nij: Number of the cases of succession

of trains;
tij: Durations of succession minimum of
trains between two trains;

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 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

Operation on single track

t fm 
 (nij (aa)t f ij (aa))  (nij ( a b) t fij ( a b) )  (nij ( b b) t fij ( b b) )  (nij ( b a) t fij ( b a) )
 nij

nij: Number of the cases of

succession of trains;
tij: Durations of succession
minimum of trains between two
train;

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 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

The UIC proposed two expressions for this extra time

margin:
• tr = 0.67 × tfm, when the desired utilization is 0.6;
• tr = 0.33 × tfm, when the desired utilization is 0.75.
The additional time tzu is added to take in account the
fact that the capacity decreases when the number of
sections increases:
• tzu = 0.25 × a, where a is the number of sections.
 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

Tfm is depending:
• Train speed;
• Train heterogeneity;
• Quality of service, reliability, or robustness;
• Commercial stops;
• Signalling system.
 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

UIC Fiche 405-1R:

• Statistical Method
• Not related to operated timetable
• Related with the number of sections
• Easy implementation, particularly in
design stage
 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

UIC Fiche 406: Compression Method

 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

UIC Fiche 406:

Capacity Consumption
 CAPACITY
ANALYSIS
UIC Fiche 406:
 CAPACITY ANALYSIS
Node Capacity

SPECIFIC OPERATION TOOLS: POTTHOFF

METHODOLOGY
 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

Potthoff Method:
• Semi-probabilistic method;
• Capacity affected by number and
interactions between trains;
• Output: Percentage of use of the node
 CAPACITY ANALYSIS

Queuing Theory
To estimate the number of required tracks of a
railway yard is possible to use the Queuing Theory.
The QT takes into account 3 parameters:
• Average service time
• Average Interarrival times
• Maximum percentage of queuing probability
Usually, the maximum percentage of queuing
probability is 5%.
OPERATIONAL COST METHODOLOGY
Traffic Management
Personnel

Energy
Consumption

Rolling Stock OPERATATIONAL

Maintenance Costs COSTS

Infrastructure
Maintenance Costs

On board Crew
OPERATIONAL COST METHODOLOGY

Line Configuration
(stations quantity,
cross level quantity
e.g.)

Operation strategy
(operation hours
Ground Personnel -
per day, number of
Traffic Management
employees in each Personnel
station, crossing
level e.g.)

Work conditions
(salary,
work hours er year
e.g)
OPERATIONAL COST METHODOLOGY
Alignment Analysis

Altimetric Profile Train Type

Running
Simulator

Basic Running Time Energy Consumption

OPERATIONAL COST METHODOLOGY
 OPERATIONAL COST METHODOLOGY
Hours of Operation Number of Trains Daily Service

Operation Model

Maintenance
Parameters
Rolling Stock
(Birr/1000km,
Maintenance Costs
maintenance
hours/1000km e.g.)

Work conditions (salary,

work hours per year e.g)
OPERATIONAL COST METHODOLOGY
 OPERATIONAL COST METHODOLOGY
Investment costs

3%

Infrastructure
Maintenance
Costs

This value includes the periodic maintenance (about

1.8% of investment costs) and the annual current
maintenance (about 1.2% of investment costs).
 OPERATIONAL COST METHODOLOGY

The percentage of infrastructure costs in ratio to

investment costs can been estimated according to
international literature and in particular:
• Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lousanne - Prices
And Costs in the Railway Sector - J.B.
Baumgartner (2001) – Litep (Laboratoire
d’Intermodalité des Transports Et Pianification)
• UIC Project – Lasting Infrastructure Costing
Benchmark
(LICB) - 10 years of benchmarking 1996 - 2005
OPERATIONAL COST METHODOLOGY

Daily Services

Travel Time

On Board Personnel
Cost
On Board Staff strategy
(driver/train, train
chief/train e.g.)

Work conditions (salary,

work hours per year e.g)
THANK YOU