Integrating capacity analysis with high-speed railway timetabling: A minimum cycle time calculation model with flexible overtaking constraints and intelligent enumeration

Compared with most optimization methods for capacity evaluation, integrating capacity analysis with timetabling can reveal the types of train line plans and operating rules that have a positive influence on improving capacity utilization as well as yielding more accurate analyses. For most capacity analyses and cyclic timetabling methods, the cycle time is a constant (e.g., one or two hours). In this paper, we propose a minimum cycle time calculation (MCTC) model based on the periodic event scheduling problem (PESP) for a given train line plan, which is promising for macroscopic train timetabling and capacity analysis. In accordance with train operating rules, a non-collision constraint and a series of flexible overtaking constraints (FOCs) are constructed based on variations of the original binary variables in the PESP. Because of the complexity of the PESP, an iterative approximation (IA) method for integration with the CPLEX solver is proposed. Finally, two hypothetical cases are considered to analyze railway capacity, and several influencing factors are studied, including train regularity, train speed, line plan specifications (train stops), overtaking and train heterogeneity. The MCTC model and IA method are used to test a real-world case involving the timetable of the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway in China.     

Robust weekly aircraft maintenance routing problem and the extension to the tail assignment problem

In this paper, we study two closely related airline planning problems: the robust weekly aircraft maintenance routing problem (RWAMRP) and the tail assignment problem (TAP). In real life operations, the RWAMRP solution is used in tactical planning whereas the TAP solution is implemented in operational planning. The main objective of these two problems is to minimize the total expected propagated delay (EPD) of the aircraft routes. To formulate the RWAMRP, we propose a novel weekly line-of-flights (LOF) network model that can handle complex and nonlinear cost functions of EPD. Because the number of LOFs grows exponentially with the number of flights to be scheduled, we propose a two-stage column generation approach to efficiently solve large-scale real-life RWAMRPs. Because the EPD of an LOF is highly nonlinear and can be very time-consuming to accurately compute, we propose three lower bounds on the EPD to solve the pricing subproblem of the column generation. Our approach is tested on eight real-life test instances. The computational results show that the proposed approach provides very tight LP relaxation (within 0.6% of optimal solutions) and solves the test case with more than 6000 flights per week in less than three hours. We also investigate the solutions obtained by our approach over 500 simulated realizations. The simulation results demonstrate that, in all eight test instances, our solutions result in less EPDs than those obtained from traditional methods. We then extend our model and solution approach to solve realistically simulated TAP instances.     

Empirical estimation of price and income elasticities of air cargo demand: The case of Hong Kong

This paper estimates the price and income elasticities of air cargo demand and examines how they may change after the 2008 financial crisis. Using a set of time series data, we simultaneously estimate the aggregated demand and supply functions of air cargo at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). We find that during the entire sampling period of 2001–2013, the price elasticity for air cargo transport demand at HKIA ranges from −0.74 to −0.29, suggesting that air cargo demand in Hong Kong reacts negatively to price (as expected) but does not appear to be very sensitive to price. The income elasticity ranges from 0.29 to 1.47 and appears sensitive to seasonality adjustment approaches. However, in terms of the speed of changes, air cargo demand changes much faster than overall economy, indicating the presence of a pro-cyclical pattern of air cargo traffic with respect to the overall economy. Our analysis shows that air cargo demand becomes more sensitive to changes in both price and income after 2008.     

大城市中小学周边地区交通拥堵问题分析与解决策略

交通拥堵已经成为我国大城市的一种社会问题,它与每一个人都息息相关,如何更好地处理这种问题,使其减少对人们出行的影响,成为值得每一个人思考的问题。针对大中型城市中的交通拥堵其中的一种现象进行深入的剖析,系统介绍交通拥堵的成因,有针对性地提出如何改善中小学周边地区交通拥堵现象的一些观点和做法。     

Plate scanning tools to obtain travel times in traffic networks

The management of vehicle travel times has been shown to be fundamental to traffic network analysis. To collect travel time measurement, some methods focus solely on isolated links or highway segments, and where two measurement points, at the beginning and at the end of a section, are deemed sufficient to evaluate users' travel time. However, in many cases, transport studies involve networks in which the problem is more complex. This article takes advantage of the plate scanning technique to propose an algorithm that minimizes the required number of registering devices and their location in order to identify vehicles candidates to compute the travel times of a given set of routes (or subroutes). The merits of the proposed method are explained using simple examples and are illustrated by its application to the real network of Ciudad Real.     

Travel time estimation oriented freeway sensor placement problem considering sensor failure

Optimal sensor placement on freeway corridor is of great interest to transportation authorities. However, current traffic sensors are easily subject to various failures. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate sensor failure into the optimal sensor placement model. In this article, a two-stage stochastic model is proposed for the purpose of travel time estimation on freeway corridor. To balance the effectiveness and reliability, a stochastic conditional value at risk (CVaR) model is also proposed. Since both models are too complicated, a customized genetic algorithm is developed. Numerical experiments show that considering sensor failure makes a significant performance improvement in the sensor placement pattern. Sensitivity analysis is also applied to investigate the impact of a number of allowable sensors and different traffic sensor failure probability.     

基于地基回弹因素的盾构隧道管片上浮预测

针对软弱地层盾构隧道管片脱出盾尾后出现的上浮问题,分析盾构施工过程中管片上浮的诱因,得出软弱地层中管片的上浮主要是地层应力重分布产生的地基回弹力引起的。在此基础上建立隧道开挖动态模型,分析隧道上浮量变化规律以及地层特性对管片上浮量的影响规律,得出地层弹性模量和管片上浮量呈一定的指数关系,且弹性模量对管片上浮量的影响远大于地层黏聚力和内摩擦角。通过力平衡理论计算盾构开挖引起的地层回弹力、管片上浮量以及隧道上浮影响的地层高度范围,并通过对珠江狮子洋工程管片上浮量的计算与实测对比,证明该公式的合理性,为盾构隧道工程中考虑地基抗力引起的管片上浮量预测提供一种新的方法。     

浅议高职语文教学所面临的问题及其对策

高职院校培养的是适应当前及未来社会发展需求的高素质应用性专门人才,客观上要求毕业生应具备较好的汉语阅读、口语、书面语和汉字书写等语文基本技能。但由于种种原因,目前高职院校在培养和提高学生这些素质方面存在不少问题,文章对此作了分析,并提出相应的对策。     

厦门地铁2号线钻探工程海上通航安全评估

依据港口通航现状、港口发展规划、附近海域船舶交通现况,分析通航安全形势,预测厦门轨道交通2号线跨海路段施工期间,船舶交通流可能的变化和通航环境、通航秩序的适应能力,论证在施工期间存在的通航安全风险、主要问题及通航安全保障能力,并提出保障通航安全的可行性建议和措施.     

中国铁路提速后技术进步对产出贡献的测算

选取我国铁路提速后1997~2007年间的相关数据,采用基于科布——道格拉斯生产函数的Solow余值法,将有限分布滞后模型和半参数回归模型引入计算模型,对数据进行拟合,计算得到铁路提速后技术进步、固定资本投入以及人力资本投入对产出的贡献率,并根据计算结果提出促进我国高速铁路建设的相关对策建议.