An Objective Train Timetabling Quality Evaluation Method

The train timetable dominates the rail traffic organization. The timetabling quality should be evaluated to check the work skill of train timetable managers. The values of existing timetable evaluation indexes vary with infrastructure features and traffic flow; therefore, they are not comparable in fact. Furthermore, subjective inputs like expert scores are involved in evaluation; this will lead to unreliable results because the experts may have different opinions. To overcome these shortages, we propose a relative train path efficiency index by taking the train paths as production units. Each unit consumes some transport resources and produces some feedback outputs. A DEA model is applied to compute the train path efficiency. Two statistical functions of train path efficiency are used to evaluate the timetabling quality. We verify our method with real-world timetables. First, we use the Shibantan-to-Xinqiao line timetable to test the relative feature of the index proposed, and the results show that the train path efficiency value is relative and can reflect whether the stops are evenly distributed or not. Second, we evaluate the timetabling quality of another two timetables of the Qingdao-to-Jinan line with different traffic flows, and the results show that, compared with the 2012 timetable, the timetabling quality decreased in 2013.