Dissertation for the degree of Master of Science
University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg. April 2013 / Many academic works in the train scheduling environment concentrate on
optimizing movements of resources through the physical network. To opti-
mize bulk freight lines, algorithms must provide a feasible schedule given the
available resources, basic operational constraints and varying demand while
ensuring resource allocations that minimise total cost. To be usable the al-
gorithm must run within reasonable time limits. This dissertation focuses on
the bulk freight train scheduling problem of full loads without track conges-
tion but extends to cover operational constraints as well as
exible resource
allocation and hubs. A problem outline is given wherein the constraints and
decision variables are well de ned followed by a review of current literature.
An exact formation of the problem is given with benchmarking on small data
sets. A genetic algorithm is used to solve for schedules on larger problem
data sets. The algorithm was successfully implemented on the 60Mt Coal
Line in South Africa which provided notable improvements in e ciencies.
Discussion and results are provided.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/13008 |
| Date | 06 August 2013 |
| Creators | Bennetto, Robert Andrew |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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