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Using Integer Programming to Solve the Train-Platforming Problem

CEDRIC-IIE, 18 Allée Jean Rostand, 91025 Evry Cedex, France
billionnet{at}iie.cnam.fr

We consider the problem of assigning trains to the available tracks at a railway station, given the daily timetable and the structural and operational constraints. This trainplatforming problem is a key problem in railway station operations, and for a large station, many working days are required for an expert planner to construct the train-platforming. This problem was studied in De Luca Cardillo and Mione (1998), where it is formulated as a graph-coloring problem. These authors propose to solve it by an efficient heuristic algorithm combined with reduction techniques. In this paper, we show that integer programming is a very interesting tool to exactly solve the train-platforming problem as formulated in De Luca Cardillo and Mione (1998) by a graph-coloring problem. The fact of being able to solve it in an exact way by using an integer-programming solver obviously has many advantages. Some computational results are reported.

History: Received: January 2000; revised: March 2001; revised: October 2001; accepted: December 2001.