B. Sanso et P. Girard, INSTANTANEOUS POWER PEAK REDUCTION AND TRAIN SCHEDULING DESYNCHRONIZATION IN SUBWAY SYSTEMS, Transportation science, 31(4), 1997, pp. 312-323
In a subway system, when a train Leaves one station to go to another,
power consumption increases and, at one point, reaches a peak. When su
ch peaks occur simultaneously, the total power peak of the system can
be very large. On the other hand if departures are totally desynchroni
zed, it could affect the overall operation of the system. This paper d
eals with the problem of finding a procedure to desynchronize train de
partures during a typical rush hour operation so that overall power pe
aks are minimized and the frequency, safety, and operational constrain
ts of the system are respected. A formulation of the problem and a heu
ristic approach are proposed. Results, using operational data from the
Montreal subway system, are presented.