3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

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Dynamic bulk freight train scheduling in an uncongested rail network
(2013-08-06) Bennetto, Robert Andrew
Many academic works in the train scheduling environment concentrate on optimizing movements of resources through the physical network. To opti- mize bulk freight lines, algorithms must provide a feasible schedule given the available resources, basic operational constraints and varying demand while ensuring resource allocations that minimise total cost. To be usable the al- gorithm must run within reasonable time limits. This dissertation focuses on the bulk freight train scheduling problem of full loads without track conges- tion but extends to cover operational constraints as well as exible resource allocation and hubs. A problem outline is given wherein the constraints and decision variables are well de ned followed by a review of current literature. An exact formation of the problem is given with benchmarking on small data sets. A genetic algorithm is used to solve for schedules on larger problem data sets. The algorithm was successfully implemented on the 60Mt Coal Line in South Africa which provided notable improvements in e ciencies. Discussion and results are provided.