Train building planning method

• US 6,832,204 B1
• Filed: 12/27/1999
• Issued: 12/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: GE Global Sourcing LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: GE Harris Railway Electronics, LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Inventors: Doner, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Robinson-Boyce, Akiba
• Application Number:
  US09/472,463
• Time in Patent Office: 1,814 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/8, 705/9, 705/10, 701/19, 701/117, 701/210
• US Class Current: 705/7.16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change

Abstract

A train building planning method is utilized to determine a state of a train yard and a status of resources within the yard. When a resource becomes available, a determination is made regarding possible options for the available resource. The affect of each option on the schedule of outbound trains is then evaluated. Specifically, a sum of the cost of late departures of outbound trains is determined and the option that provides a low, or no, cost of late departure is chosen.

Claims

1. A computer implemented planning method for building trains in a train yard comprising a series of receiving tracks at the entry end of the train yard for receiving inbound trains to be classified and rebuilt, a bottleneck for cutting the trains into groupings of one or more railcars, a series of classification tracks for receiving the groupings of railcars, a series of departure tracks at the exit of the railyard for building outbound trains, and a bottleneck for directing railcars from the classification tracks to the departure tracks, said method comprising;

determining using a computer an initial state of railcar locations in the train yard;

determining using a computer an initial state of utilization of train building resources in the train yard;

determining using a computer whether a train building resource is available at the train yard for use in building departure trains;

determining using a computer possible uses for the available train building resource for building departure trains;

determining using a computer the affect on a schedule of departure trains for each possible use of the available train building resource to generate a preferred yard schedule; and

building departure trains based on the preferred schedule for the departure trains including;

cutting trains in the train yard into a plurality of blocks of one or more railcars;

moving each block of railcars to at least one predetermined receiving track;

moving railcars from at least one predetermined receiving track to at least one predetermined classification track based upon a departure route associated with the respective railcar; and

moving a block of classified railcars from at least one predetermined classification track to a predetermined departure track.

2. A planning method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said step of determining the affect comprises the step of determining a cost of departures for each outbound train as c₁(d_i), the cost of T_i departure at time d_i.

3. A planning method in accordance with claim 2 wherein said step of determining the effect further comprises the step of determine the sum of the costs of late departures utilizing the function $F$

(η

1,η

2,…



 

,η

nD,S

(t))=∑

i=1nT

 



ci

(di)

wherein

η

₁, η

₂, . . . , η

_nD are train building process decisions;

S(t) is a state of the train yard at time t;

n_T(t) is a number of outbound trains currently under consideration; and

d_i(t) is an apparent current ready time for train T_i at time t.

4. A planning method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said step of determining possible uses for the available railcar resource comprises the step of determining a value η

_i′

within a realm R_i of decisions for η

_i satisfying

5. A planning method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising the step of minimizing departure times by minimizing the function $\partial$

(η

1,η

2,…



 

,η

nD,S

(t))=∑

i=1nT

 



di

(t)

wherein

η

₁,η

₂, . . . , η

_nD are train building process decisions;

S(t) is a state of the train yard at time t;

n_T(t) is a number of outbound trains currently under consideration; and

d_i(t) is an apparent current ready time for train T_i, at time t.

6. A planning method in accordance with claim 3 wherein n_D=6 and

η

₁, is determining which receive track;

η

₂ is determining which cut should be classified next;

η

₃ is determining which classification track;

η

₄ is determining which block of cars to move next;

η

₅ is determining which track a train build should occur on; and

η

₆ ids determining which train should depart the train yard next.

7. A planning method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising the step of maximizing throughput of railcars from a train yard.

8. A planning method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising the step of minimizing a cost of throughput of railcars from a train yard.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the train building resources comprise one of the group of switching engine, railyard personnel and railyard track.