Ph.D in train driver scheduling

[strange6]

http://www.engineering.leeds.ac.uk/computing/research/publications/theses/kwan_a.pdf

Can't believe somebody has done a doctorate in this! Mind you, it's a good read.

 

[OxtedL]

You of course read it all....

Woah, just woah.

 

[strange6]

You of course read it all....

Woah, just woah.

It does contain some interesting info that some on this forum may find quite useful!

 

[Minilad]

It all looks very interesting.
Unfortunately I have to get on with other more important things, such as watching paint dry or grass grow !!!

Seriously though if it gives me more Saturdays off and it can promise it will never send me to Manchester again then I am all for it !!

 

[strange6]

It all looks very interesting.
Unfortunately I have to get on with other more important things, such as watching paint dry or grass grow !!!

Seriously though if it gives me more Saturdays off and it can promise it will never send me to Manchester again then I am all for it !!

It would be interesting to find out what this chap is now doing for a living. Bet he's not working for a TOC!

 

[Minilad]

I have always thought of diagramming and rostering to be a bit of a dark art. But one thing I do know is that it would be better done by a person who you can speak to rather than a computer programme !!

 

[33056]

I have always thought of diagramming and rostering to be a bit of a dark art. But one thing I do know is that it would be better done by a person who you can speak to rather than a computer programme !!

A good, experienced diagrammer or roster clerk beats a computer program hands down every time. I have had experience of the latter (not saying I was any good at it!) and have also had to deal with the problems thrown up by poor diagramming.

A colleague and myself once spent most of an 8 hour shift sifting through and correcting a particularly bad set of traincrew diagrams produced by the planning department one timetable change - I think it was one of the first produced with the "aid" of a computer.

 

[OxtedL]

I did some electronics stuff a while back. PCBs can now be drawn by computer (badly without expensive software), but nothing will every beat human ingenuity for finding the most efficient solution...eventually.

 

[Tom B]

It's a very difficult problem - not only need schedules take into account the need to have a driver on every train, but those drivers must also work within specified parameters (e.g. time between teabreaks) and indeed can only take teabreaks or be relieved at certain specified points. Then add into this the need to minimise the amount of time wasted.

It is not an easy problem to compute and it's a very interesting paper - genetic algorithms are suited to this sort of problem.

 

[Jonny]

I did some electronics stuff a while back. PCBs can now be drawn by computer (badly without expensive software), but nothing will every beat human ingenuity for finding the most efficient solution...eventually.

Garbage in, Garbage out?

 

[Greenback]

They are not tea breaks, they are personal needs breaks. Meal breaks would be a more accurate term to use if you don't want to use the official term.

 

[OxtedL]

Garbage in, Garbage out?

???

(Yes, I know what it means, but...)

???

 

[Greenback]

Garbage in, Garbage out?

Indeed. Any computer programme is only as good as the information it is given.

 

[amcluesent]

Quantum computing will create the breakthrough in these types of multi-variable optimisation problems.

N.B IMHO the dissertation lacked a sound theoretical foundation.

 

[TDK]

VT have done their rostering on a computer and their results were pretty good as much as they can close one depot and still run a full service with cross cover however there are may factors that need to be considered such as spare turns to cover sickness and annual leave and also extra services that need to be run from time to time. The rostering has worked as it is for a long time now with a small fraction of trains being cancelled or part cancelled down to poor rostering so it is pretty good as it is.

 

[Old Timer]

I remember a computer-based diagramming programme in the 1970s which ended up sending locos LD up and down the GN, and train crews travelling passenger, and then relieving the working train crew further along, with them then travelling passenger, and then both travelling back home passenger together.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

I remember a computer-based diagramming programme in the 1970s which ended up sending locos LD up and down the GN, and train crews travelling passenger, and then relieving the working train crew further along, with them then travelling passenger, and then both travelling back home passenger together.

I am informed that the above is still common now, but the diagrammers now check what the computer is doing!

 

[Burkitt]

It would be interesting to find out what this chap is now doing for a living. Bet he's not working for a TOC!

Chappess, given the name. And she seems to be entirely absent from the internet other than this paper.