RTPM-Session 6 to 10 Module 3: Managing Railway Operations Vankodoth Avinash | 19470

SYNOPSIS SHEET FOR MODULE 3

Topic 1: The scheduling and rescheduling of Railway operations

Scheduling Rescheduling
Simply defining, scheduling primarily has two activities Rescheduling is the later modification of
a. Time allocation of resources to match demand initially prepared schedules to
b. Sequencing of allocation accommodate the aroused need
Objective: Objective:
a. Cost Minimization Recover the initial target
b. Maximization of customer satisfaction

When is rescheduling required: Rescheduling is not necessarily a contingency task.

Deterministic Planned maintenance

Addition/ removal of resources (Stations/ tracks etc)
Stochastic Unplanned maintenance/ Contingency/ Need/ Emergency
Seasonality factors
Accommodate demand fluctuations and new changes

Is scheduling/rescheduling hard:

• It is not always possible to obtain a feasible situation because of the hard constraints involved.
Rescheduling leads to the relocating the entire set of resources (Rolling stock, infrastructure, and human
resources) and these resources are again interdependent on multiple other resources. Hence, this knock
over effect increases the complexity which makes rescheduling a hard task.
• Deadlock: Two or more processes holding a resource & mutually demanding another resource acquired
by the other process. This leads to indefinite blockage and must be avoided.
• Four possible approaches of rescheduling:
o Delay scheduled services
o Reroute trains
o Provide partial services
o Completely cancel the service

Comparison with international scenario: Developed nations like Europe uses LP modelling for scheduling and
rescheduling operations whereas India uses hand computed model which is prone to inefficiencies.

Hierarchies involved: The operational hierarchy in IR is divided into 4 levels:

Planning Strategic Operations

Tactical Operations
Execution Operations Control
Realtime Control

• It is commonly misrepresented that Scheduling takes place in Planning level (Strategic & Execution) and
Rescheduling takes place at Execution level (Operations & Realtime). But the classification should also
include factors like intended objective, available time frame etc.
• Therefore, scheduling and rescheduling happens at all levels and decision taken at any level might
impact the other levels.
RTPM-Session 6 to 10 Module 3: Managing Railway Operations Vankodoth Avinash | 19470

Topic 2: Improving Customer Service

• The problematic attitude of IR towards freight customers is a big issue. This is evident in the case of JSW
when JSW’s investment in dedicated wagons turned out to be worthless. The major expectations of
freight clients from IR are:
o Safe & Secure Delivery – No degradation in quality of consignment
o Minimum reliability in timelines of arrivals and departures
o Required infrastructure for easy loading/unloading operations
• Two options to improve customer service: 1) Expand resources 2) Improve existing resources
• The long-term plans to improve customer services include Dedicated freight corridor or customized
wagons. The limitations and difficulties involved in these plans are discussed in the further topics.
• Terminology - Demurrage Vs Wharfage: Demurrage charges are levied for the detention of any rolling
stock after the expiry of free time, if any, allowed for such detention. Wharfage is the charge levied on
goods for not removing them from the railway after the expiry of the free time for such removal.

Topic 3: Issues with Logistics Management

• Two major challenges in logistics of IR are:

o End mile connectivity -> benefits both service providers & customers
o Empty runs - There is a big mismatch between inward & outward flows of freight causing huge
empty runs. This not only affects the customer but also impacts IR
• Other challenges faced by freight customers are:
o Streamlining flows: High extent of reversals affects timeline of arrivals/departures & empty runs
o Wagon turnaround & Material handling: The dependency on IR to procure & operate specific
types of wagons became an issue.
o Administrative issues: There were several administrative issues like Weighment & Punitive
Charges, Free time & Schemes, Idle Freight, Route Rationalization.

Freight customers like JSW, ACC are very important to IR as they contribute higher revenues, but IR is unable
to meet their expectations due to technical difficulties like regrading and specificity in demands. Involving in
partnerships with private entities is an option but responsibility sharing becomes unfair in such partnerships.
Hence, IR should try to match these expectations by providing dedicated resources and incentivizing
schemes.

Topic 4: Capacity Management of Freight

Freight majorly includes commodities like Coal, Food grains, Iron & Steel, Iron ore, Cement, Petroleum, Oil &
Lubricants etc. Each commodity needs a specific type of wagons and few commodities like cement has a
particular character and its consumption needs are different in suburban and urban areas. In urban areas,
logistics cost is high and storage costs are low whereas in sub urban areas, logistics cost is low, but storage
costs are relatively high. With such wide variety of customer needs, it is becoming increasingly difficult for IR
to manage their expectations

Non-availability of appropriate wagons & lack of proper loading/ unloading systems are the primary
obstacles for freight customers affecting their capacity management. IR introduced Engine on Load and Own
your wagon schemes to address these issues.

• Engine on Load: The engine would be kept attached with a rake during loading and unloading
operations, thus minimizing the delays caused due to loaded/unloaded rakes waiting for it.
• Own your Wagon: This scheme allows private entities to invest in their own wagons as per the specific
needs with a 25% incentive from IR.
RTPM-Session 6 to 10 Module 3: Managing Railway Operations Vankodoth Avinash | 19470

Available options to increase capacity:

• Increase throughput with same number of trips by increasing load per wagon and/or wagons per rake
• Increase the number of trips with additional rakes.
• Increase the number of trips with the same rakes by improving the turnaround time.

The first two alternatives require significant investments from the private entities. Hence, the third
alternative looks beneficial.

However, risks are not equally shared between IR and customers in both EOL & OYW schemes. Customers
has a trade-off between additional capacity and better throughput and in most cases, customers prefer
better throughput. So, IR should improve its customer management and try to mitigate the risks of
customers.

Topic 5: Capacity Management of Passenger

Optimal Allocation of Rolling Stock:

• There is a Standard Operating Procedure for every train across all zones which includes rake composition
& maintenance schedules etc. Maintenance is divided into two types: Primary (Technical adjustments) &
Secondary (Basic). Certain resources are allotted to each of these services and zones try to maximise
their resource utilization.
• However, the cyclic scheduling is currently done by hand in IR due to which the utilization of rakes is very
low even after accounting for maintenance buffers.
• Therefore, there is a great need for scientific methods to optimize allocation thereby increasing
operational efficiency and decreasing operational costs without compromising the service quality by
keeping timetable as a hard constraint. This also leads to lesser turnaround times and hence, more
capacity.

Efficient Signal Scheduling:

• Current signalling system of IR is a fixed system with a fixed system headway. Operational headway
should conform to system headway thereby limiting the capacity. To increase the capacity, signal
headway can be reduced to 2.5 mins, by respacing the physical distance between signals and also by
reducing the system headway to 2.5 mins.
• The headway can be converted in time units when two moving entities are being compared.
• In dynamic block, moving block signalling systems are used instead of physical signalling systems.
• Section Headway – Time interval (Frequency) in which a train can move through section and still
maintain as fast book speed as possible
• Signal Headway - Time a signal takes to turn Y/YY/G after a train has passed it

Compressing timetable to increase capacity:

• Standardization of specifications is needed in transportation service parameters to improve consistency

and uniformity of definitions across the organization.
• The capacity balance graph describes four important parameters: Heterogeneity, Stability, Number of
trains and Average Speed. These parameters should be balanced according to the use case (Metro train
working & Mixed train working) to meet customer demands.
• The timetables can be compressed by following a four-step methodology:
Diagram track network ->Study existing timetable -> Select a single line -> Compress timetable
Consider the infrastructure occupation, buffer time, crossing buffer and maintenance time and compare
the consumption with standard value. Look for any possibility to utilize any leftover capacity.