Virtual-Coupling-Based Timetable Rescheduling for Heavy-Haul Railways Under Disruptions

As the demand for coal and other ore resources increases, the hauling capacity of heavy-haul railways is severely challenged. Virtual coupling technology has gained attention for its ability to improve operational efficiency in bottleneck sections and reduce the time it takes for trains operating on the line to resume normal operation during emergencies. In this article, virtual coupling-based timetable rescheduling method is proposed to reduce the delays under disruptions and improve the line capacity. A mixed-integer linear program (MILP) model that allows trains to be coupled either at departure or by sharing the same arrival and departure line is formulated to reduce the delay time and its propagation range. The strategies of retiming, rearranging tracks, and virtual coupling are adopted to collaboratively optimize the deviation in train schedules and track utilization under disruptions, aiming to enhance the occupancy capacity of arrival and departure lines while simultaneously reducing train delays. A heuristic algorithm utilizing simulated annealing (SA)-particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is developed to generate optimal train coupling and stopping schemes. Numerical experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model and heuristic algorithm on a real heavy-haul railway configuration. The results demonstrate that our method effectively reduces train delays and minimizes the impact of track utilization on adjacent stations, as well as the repercussions of train delays on subsequent stations.