Optimisation model to schedule railway track renewal operations: a life-cycle cost approach

Besides high initial construction costs, ballasted railway tracks also have high investment requirements, related to maintenance and renewal (M&R) works. Decision support tools for railway track components that optimise these works are increasingly gaining in importance. This paper presents an o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Structure and infrastructure engineering 2015-11, Vol.11 (11), p.1524-1536
Main Authors: Caetano, Luis Filipe, Teixeira, Paulo Fonseca
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ballast
Cost engineering
Life cycle costs
life-cycle cost assessment
Maintenance
opportunistic renewal scheduling
optimisation
Optimization
Railroad tracks
railway track
Railway tracks
Reduction
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Summary:Besides high initial construction costs, ballasted railway tracks also have high investment requirements, related to maintenance and renewal (M&R) works. Decision support tools for railway track components that optimise these works are increasingly gaining in importance. This paper presents an optimisation model that integrates ballast, rail and sleeper degradation models in a mixed integer linear programming model. This model links the decisions to renew these components with their condition and takes advantage of the integrated planning of renewal works to minimise the railway track life-cycle cost (LCC). The practical utility of the model is illustrated with a case study involving the Portuguese Lisbon-Porto line. The results indicate a reduction in track renewal cost if the grouping of components, track segments and time interval for renewal operations are optimised. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates that possible annual budget restrictions for railway track M&R operations can have an important influence on the railway track LCC.
ISSN:1573-2479
1744-8980
DOI:10.1080/15732479.2014.982133