Modeling, Planning, and Optimization for Railway and Urban Rail Systems

Dear Colleagues,

International trade today is based on transport, and not only of basic raw materials, energy and finished products, but also of semi-finished products and components. In the globalized world, various business and management systems are used to do this, which monitor the size and status of production and help minimize fluctuations in production. Logistics and logistics chains are therefore dependent on a functioning transport system today. An example is the ship accident in the Suez Canal, which significantly altered the logistics landscape in the 21st century.

Rail transport is also an important element in this process. Rail transport competes with other modes of transport for customers around the world. To remain competitive, it must continually improve its offerings and provide high-quality, reliable services. This is aided not only by the technological advancements in rolling stock and the construction of new, often high-speed lines, but also by advanced transport planning methods. We cannot imagine modern railways today without information technologies for tracking shipments, and modern infrastructure now also uses digitalization in the preparation of construction projects or in maintenance.

Investments in rail infrastructure can be defined as long-term, both in terms of the preparation for construction and its subsequent operation. For such infrastructure to be economically sustainable, it is essential to apply a variety of optimisation tasks during its preparation. This helps to determine the necessary scope of the infrastructure. Another advantage of today's world is the ability to make effective use of modelling using network analysis, graph theory and decision theory. This helps to identify weaknesses in transport concepts and adjust at the design stage. This leads to more efficient construction with an emphasis on customer needs. Today's rail systems are highly sophisticated and therefore require the involvement of scientific experts for a faster exchange of knowledge and conclusions from studies.

The complexity of modern logistics and transportation systems, as highlighted by incidents like the Suez Canal blockage, necessitates a holistic and integrated approach, which is fundamentally provided by systems theory and systems thinking. Systems theory views the transport network—including rail, road, sea, and air—not as a collection of independent components, but as an interconnected, dynamic, and adaptive system where the behaviour of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This framework is crucial for understanding how a change in one element (e.g., a port closure, a rail line modernisation, or a shift in market demand) can propagate and affect the stability and efficiency of the entire global supply chain. By applying systems methods, such as modelling and simulation, planners can identify crucial feedback loops, leverage points for optimisation, and potential points of failure, enabling them to design more resilient and robust transport strategies. The goal is to move beyond mere component optimisation (e.g., faster trains) toward optimising the throughput and reliability of the entire end-to-end transport system.

The topics of interest for this Special Issue include the following:

• system description and implementation of the FRMCS system on the railway,
• application of DAC in a broader context of economics and traffic safety,
• increasing the capacity and reliability of transport systems using CBTC communication,
• operation of autonomous railway vehicles on an open railway network,
• connection of air transport to the railway network and their effective cooperation in code-sharing.

Dr. Petr Nachtigall
Guest Editor

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