FLOAT - for Better Flow in The Swedish Train Traffic

FLOAT is a research project at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) that runs from September 2013 to March 2017 and is funded by the Swedish Transport Administration through the industry program KAJT. The purpose of the FLOAT project is to develop and test principles and calculation methods to support Swedish train dispatchers in their operational work.

The project builds on the work carried out in the EOT project and its predecessors. For an overall, visual presentation of the projects scope and focus see HERE!

Project leader for FLOAT is Associate Professor Johanna Törnquist Krasemann. Doctoral student Sai Prashanth Josyula also works in the project. The project's contact person at the Swedish Transport Administration is Peter Hammarberg and the project is carried out in collaboration with the Swedish Transport Administration's development projects and a number of KAJT partners.

Background and problem description Most people have long agreed that the tasks of traffic controllers are very complex and sometimes extremely cognitively demanding. At the same time, the availability of decision support and aids is very limited. As traffic in large parts of the Swedish railway network has become increasingly intense and irregular in recent years and the requirements for transparent operational prioritization criteria have been highlighted, it has become even clearer that there is a need for decision support for traffic controllers. The support developed within the STEG/CATO projects has demonstrated a clear potential and opportunity to manage traffic in a more sustainable and efficient way. There, the traffic controllers are still at the center but with extended calculation and visualization support. However, the support mentioned does not include functions that detect all types of relevant potential conflicts in the proposed train plan, investigate the interdependencies of the conflicts or provide (partial) suggestions on how the conflicts can be resolved and what the effects would be such as additional delays, track changes, missed connections, etc. It is this type of functionality that the previous projects OAT, OAT+ and EOT have focused on instead. The projects have developed calculation methods and experimentally evaluated these in a simulated environment with primarily the Southern Main Line's Katrinholm-Mjölby section as a test section. The calculation methods are based on optimization technology and have been evaluated on more than 100 different disruption scenarios of different nature and severity such as, for example, infrastructure failure between Linköping and Linghem where a speed reduction means that all trains passing the route must slow down. Even simpler disruptions such as a passenger train leaving a station late due to delayed boarding of passengers are handled.

The purpose, focus and boundaries of the project The purpose of the FLOAT project is to develop principles and methods to support the work of Swedish traffic managers to proactively identify conflicts and disruptions in train traffic, to develop proposals on how these can be avoided and managed and to evaluate the effects of alternative decisions. Decision support for train traffic management can cover many things and include, for example, 1) a graphical interface that visualizes and possibly interacts with the traffic controller to replan the traffic (such as STEG), 2) the information systems that communicate the situation in the traffic with what is planned in the interface and 3) calculation modules that "below the surface" identify deviations and conflicts in the plan and propose adjustments to the train plan. In FLOAT we focus on 3) but since its usefulness and functionality very much depends on the other two parts, we study and develop these modules in collaboration with the Swedish Transport Administration and some KAJT partners who focus on the other parts. The FLOAT project is based on the work carried out by Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) on behalf of the Swedish Transport Administration (TrV) in the project EOT (Effective Operational Replanning of Train Paths in the event of operational disturbances). In a long-term perspective, it is sought that the project's developed principles and methods in some form may be included in a future system for national train management. In a more short-term perspective, the project intends to support the work done in the NTL project by jointly discussing, analyzing and testing aspects of the conditions for and expectations of components in such a future system from different perspectives. The project also intends to support TrV in its work in the EU project ON-TIME (ends September 2014).

Planned implementation The FLOAT project will be implemented as two partly parallel case studies. One study is of a more theoretical nature and is linked to previous studies in the EOT project for the Southern Main Line (SSB, the Katrineholm-Norrköping-Malmö section). The second case study is of a more practical nature and will be carried out in collaboration with the BAOT and NTL projects and focus on the Ore Line and the conditions and needs that exist there. However, the case studies are based on the same issues, but some of the issues are more appropriate to investigate in the environment where STEP/CATO is implemented (i.e. the Ore Line) while others are possible to also/instead investigate via the study at SSB. In addition, there is a value in studying the problem of decision support for traffic management based on two different traffic environments (single track vs. double / four-track, different traffic intensity, different terrain and dependencies on nearby tracks). For a description of the project's various work packages and activities, contact the project manager.