FOR 2083:  Integrated Planning for Public Transportation

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Construction Engineering and Architecture ; Mathematics
• Term: from 2015 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 238487308

Public transportation is a significant part of the nowadays traffic. A public transportation system consists of line plans, timetables, vehicle schedules and crew schedules. In applications, these plans are usually constructed sequentially one after another. The quality of every plan is evaluated during this process, but an evaluation of the overall quality of the system is often not done. Line planning, timetabling, vehicle- and crew scheduling are all known as complex optimization problems by themselves which are studied by traffic planners, and, more recently also by applied mathematicians and theoretical computer scientists.In our project we want to replace this sequential process by an integrated approach with the aim of being able to plan a customer-friendly and transportation system with a reasonable budget. Within the planning process we also want to take robustness issues into account. We will hence work on methods which allow such an integrated planning and consider the following three new aspects:- an integrated optimization instead of a sequential process - route planning in multi-modal networks and the integration of realistic demand models in the planning process - the reaction to disturbances and the development of robust solutions which take possible disturbances into account already during the planning process. In order to realize these aims we need to do basic research with an interdisciplinary understanding of traffic systems, traffic supply and demand, and algorithms. The principal investigators of this project are an interdisciplinary team having the required competences in optimization approaches from applied mathematics and theoretical computer science, and in modeling of traffic systems from the field of traffic engineering. Based on approaches of discrete optimization, algorithm engineering, and traffic simulation we will develop innovative procedures to improve the planning process in public transportation. The progress will be demonstrated using small and large practical instances.Beside the expected achievements in traffic planning also other disciplines will benefit: We will develop new approaches for the integrated optimization of multi-stage optimization problems which can also be used in other domains. We also expect the development of a robustness notion which is suitable for integrated planning and which will have further applications in other fields.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Algorithm Engineering for integrated multimodal route planning (Applicant Wagner, Dorothea )
• Algorithms for multi-stage optimization problems: Integrated optimization for public transport (Applicant Schöbel, Anita )
• Combining mathematical optimization and stochastic simulation for a robust integrated vehicle and crew scheduling in public transport (Applicant Clausen, Uwe )
• Decomposition algorithms for multistage optimization problem (Applicant Lübbecke, Marco )
• Impact of disruptions on passengers and operations – Modeling the reactions of operators and passengers on disruptions (Applicant Vortisch, Peter )
• Impacts of a public transport supply on passengers and operators (Applicant Friedrich, Markus )
• Koordinationsprojekt (Applicant Schöbel, Anita )
• Optimization of disposition in case of disruptions from a passenger's view (Applicant Müller-Hannemann, Matthias )

• Partner Organisation: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Anita Schöbel