Method for analyzing and generating optimal transportation schedules for vehicles such as trains and controlling the movement of vehicles in response thereto

摘要

A method of analyzing transportation schedules in a schedule analysis (SCAN) decision support system to determine the feasibility of the schedules is disclosed. In a transportation system, vehicles are delayed to avoid conflicts with other vehicles which would otherwise collide because the vehicles may be travelling along the same travel paths at different speeds or in opposite directions. The invention utilizes information relating to the vehicle travel paths, the vehicle's speed and mobility characteristics, a function based on the vehicle's on-time performance, proposed transportation schedules and real-time data associated with the travel paths and vehicles. This information is used to provide substantially optimal vehicle schedules with respect to cost resulting from vehicle delay.