Railway Stabling Graph Evaluation for Shunting Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for creating stabling plans and vehicle operation plans for railway formations face inefficiencies in evaluating constraints, particularly in large-scale problems, leading to increased human and time costs due to shunting requirements when stabling constraints are not satisfied.
Innovation Solution
An information processing device that creates a graph reflecting formation relationships, evaluates stabling constraints using heuristic methods, and generates stabling and vehicle operation plans to minimize shunting by optimizing formation allocation based on graph theory principles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If mixed integer linear programming is used to create stabling plans, then optimal solutions can be found, but the computation time increases significantly for large-scale problems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the evaluation process by creating a graph representation of the stabling problem where formations are nodes and constraints are edges. This segmentation allows the use of efficient graph algorithms (like maximum matching) to evaluate constraints quickly, rather than using slow general-purpose mixed integer linear programming for the entire problem.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes the mechanical computation approach of mixed integer linear programming with a more efficient graph-theoretic approach. By modeling the stabling constraint evaluation as a graph problem, the system can leverage specialized algorithms that run much faster than general-purpose optimization solvers, especially for large-scale instances.
2Reliability
If shunting is performed to satisfy stabling constraints, then constraint violations are reduced, but human cost and time cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary evaluation of stabling constraints by constructing a graph and evaluating it before finalizing the stabling plan. This preliminary action identifies potential constraint violations early, allowing the system to adjust the plan proactively rather than reacting to violations after shunting has already occurred, thereby reducing the need for corrective shunting operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the graph evaluation results are used to iteratively improve the stabling plan. The evaluation provides feedback on constraint satisfaction, allowing the system to adjust formation allocations and minimize shunting requirements while maintaining high constraint satisfaction levels.
Data Source
AI summary
An information processing device includes one or more hardware processors. The processors create, for each of moving bodies, a graph including nodes corresponding to the moving bodies, and edges representing a constraint on at least a part of an arrival-order, a departure-order, and an entry/exit method based on moving body information including the arrival-order representing an order in which the moving body arrives at a target area including stop sections allowing the moving body to stop, and the departure-order representing an order in which the moving body departs from the target area, and section information including an entry/exit method for entering each of the stop sections and exiting from each of the stop sections. The processors select an evaluation method used for evaluation of a graph among evaluation methods based on the section information. The processors evaluate the graph using the selected evaluation method.