案例库 · 工程与运营 · 运营决策 · 2001–2009
这条还没译成中文，下面是英文原文。
Netherlands Railways rebuilt its timetable from scratch to fit 5,500 daily trains.
Facing a 1970 timetable that could not absorb growth, NS used operations research to design a new one, adding €40 million of annual profit without new track.
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
那一手
NS ran a timetable built in 1970, and the network was effectively at capacity. Tweaking that plan could not absorb growth, because more trains meant new infrastructure. NS decided to construct a completely new timetable for about 5,500 daily trains.
The team used sophisticated operations research to generate candidate timetables and to optimise rolling-stock circulation and crew schedules, the railway's main cost lines. A cyclic structure let trains connect and split cleanly, and a robust plan meant running one late train did not tear the rest apart.
The new timetable arrived in December 2006 and carried more trains and passengers on the same infrastructure. It produced €40 million ($60 million) of additional annual profit, roughly €10 million from extra revenue, projected to reach €70 million ($105 million) a year.
为什么管用
- The 1970 timetable was at capacity, so incremental tweaks could not add growth without expensive new track.
- Building roughly 5,500 daily trains from scratch is a huge combinatorial problem, best solved by models not hand.
- Rolling-stock and crew are the biggest cost lines, so tightening their cycles is where most of the money sits.
- A robust plan absorbs small disruptions, so fewer delays compound into real passenger gains.
可以搬走什么
When infrastructure is the binding constraint, the cheap growth is in how you schedule it: redesigning the timetable and the resources that serve it together adds capacity without a new track.
后来呢
The timetable and the tools behind it won the 2008 Edelman Award, and the paper became a landmark in cyclic timetabling. The approach spread to other European operators looking to grow without new infrastructure, and NS kept investing in operations research for crew scheduling, rolling stock and disruption management.
资料来源
- The New Dutch Timetable: The OR Revolution (Interfaces 39(1), pp. 6–17)
- Switch to new train times goes smoothly
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