Operations Research 2025
Abstract Submission

2265. Passenger-Centric Synchronization of Air-Rail Timetables: A Linear Approximation Approach

Invited abstract in session TC-1: Aircraft refuelling and air-rail timetable synchronization, stream Mobility, Transportation, and Traffic.

Thursday, 11:45-13:15
Room: Audimax

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Bing Liu
Chair of Railway Operations, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Technical University of Dresden
2. Christopher Szymula
Traffic Flow Science, TU Dresden
3. Nikola Bešinović
Chair of Railway Operations, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Technical University of Dresden

Abstract

The integration of rail and air services has been attracting increasing attention with the growing emphasis on multimodal transport systems. In this paper, we propose a passenger-centric Air-Rail Timetable Synchronization (ARTS) model to improve the passenger transfer experience. The model applies a time-shift strategy to existing rail and air timetables to provide more connections and smoother transfers for multimodal travelers. It also captures passenger itinerary shifts resulting from timetable adjustments. The underlying optimization problem is inherently nonlinear, as the objective—minimizing total passenger transfer time—depends simultaneously on timetable adjustments and the resulting passenger itineraries. To address the computational complexity, a linear approximation of the ARTS problem is formulated by discretizing continuous passenger flows into distinct passenger groups. A tailored heuristic algorithm is developed to construct these groups. Initially, a relaxed approximated problem is built by grouping passengers according to their travel paths while disregarding seat capacity constraints. Subsequently, the passenger groups are iteratively subdivided, and capacity constraints are incrementally reintroduced based on a heuristic rule, until all seat capacity constraints are satisfied. The proposed methodology is validated through a real-world case study of the Spanish air-rail transport network. Computational results demonstrate that the ARTS model effectively reduces passenger transfer times and that incorporating itinerary shifts yields more realistic and efficient synchronized timetables. Moreover, the proposed linear approximation significantly enhances computational tractability while delivering solutions of acceptable quality.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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