Dynamic railway network management using switching max-plus-linear models

Reference:
T.J.J. van den Boom and B. De Schutter, "Dynamic railway network management using switching max-plus-linear models," Proceedings of the 11th IFAC Symposium on Control in Transportation Systems, Delft, The Netherlands, pp. 343-348, Aug. 2006.

Abstract:
In this paper we discuss dynamic traffic management of railway networks. The main aim of the controller is to recover from delays in an optimal way by breaking connections and changing the departure of trains (at a cost). To model the railway system we use a switching max-plus-linear system description. We define the optimal control design problem for the railway network, and we show that solving this problem leads to an integer optimization problem. This problem can be solved with a genetic algorithm or with a mixed integer linear programming algorithm. We also apply the algorithm to a model of the Dutch railway network.