A deterministic approach to evaluating transport infrastructure at a terminus

This paper is concerned with the effect of the track layout on the capacity , as measured by the throughput rate of trains, of a railway terminus. We p resent a network representation of permitted train movements and formulate an integer program that determines optimum throughput rates. By applying th e model to a series of ideal track layouts that are derived from a well-kno wn 3-platform layout, we are able to confirm the surmised optimum throughpu t. The model is also used to analyse the capacity of some existing stations . There is some discussion of operational issues. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.