Planning and Operations for Modern Railway Transport Systems

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit your cutting-edge research to this Special Issue of the journal Vehicles, themed “Planning and Operations for Modern Railway Transport Systems”.

Efficient planning and operations are fundamental to delivering high-quality railway services for both passenger and freight transport. The planning phase covers strategic network and line planning as well as tactical service scheduling, while operations focus on real-time train rescheduling, control, and disruption management. The evolution of modern rail transport systems intensifies the need to develop advanced methodologies, technologies, and tools, aimed at improving resource efficiency, enhancing service quality, and strengthening system resilience under both nominal and disrupted conditions.

Research in this field is inherently multidisciplinary, integrating principles and techniques from operations research, computer science, data science, and railway engineering. Methodologies such as optimization model and algorithms, matheuristics, simulation-based digital twins, and data-driven machine learning and AI are proving critical. These approaches not only provide deeper insights into complex system behaviors, but are also becoming integral to the design and management of railway systems, thereby accelerating the modernization of service provision. Complementing these computational advances, empirical data analysis and real-world case studies remain essential, serving as a vital bridge between theoretical models and their practical implementation.

This Special Issue aims to cover all aspects related to the planning and operational management of railway systems. This includes, but is not limited to, network and line planning, timetable development, rolling stock and crew scheduling, real-time dispatching, and disruption management. Theoretical, empirical, and computational investigations (or a combination thereof) are welcome. We also encourage the submission of interdisciplinary research addressing challenges across the entire planning hierarchy, from long-term strategic network design to the dynamic control of daily train operations.

Dr. Yao Chen
Dr. Yongxiang Zhang
Dr. Jungang Shi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vehicles is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• network, line and route planning
• resource scheduling
• timetable optimization
• disruption management
• real-time train operations
• resilience in railway transport