Europeans face less disruption when travelling by train this summer, thanks to a research project that has received ?2.6 million of EU funding. From 2006 to 2009, researchers from 12 universities (in Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and The Netherlands) and French railway company SNCF (Soci?t? Nationale des Chemins de fer Fran?ais) worked on the ARRIVAL project, under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Christos Zaroliagis from the Research Academic Computer Tecnology Institute (CTI), University of Patras.
The ARRIVAL project has developed advanced software that schedules trains more efficiently and handles disruptions, as they happen in real time, more effectively while maintaining the same level of safety. The results of this research are already being applied by railway operators across Europe to ensure more efficient use of rail networks, in terms of both timetabling and dealing with unforeseen disruptions.
ARRIVAL's success is based on the development of new algorithms that can be used to organise railway infrastructure management more efficiently: from train scheduling, platform allocation, staff distribution and freight loads to dealing with disruptions such as train rerouting or rescheduling as they happen in real time. The algorithms developed have potential applications in other areas such as road traffic navigation systems, industrial work-flow systems, e-commerce, peer to peer networks, grid computing networks and healthcare.
The ARRIVAL project has already been successfully implemented in The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. For example, ARRIVAL algorithms were used to draw up a new timetable for the Dutch national railway system which handles 5500 trains per day; it is now one of Europe's most efficient railway networks. In Berlin, the waiting time between trains on the U-Bahn underground network has been reduced from 4 to 2 minutes thanks to the application of ARRIVAL algorithms. Swiss railways have implemented an optimal planning schedule, based on ARRIVAL algorithms, for additional trains on high-risk corridors where both freight and passenger trains operate.
Other railway operators across Europe are interested in implementing this technology. Trials in Italy at the Palermo and Genoa train stations have resulted in a 25% reduction in delays. By improving railway efficiency, this new algorithm technology delivers benefits to all Europeans using trains. On average, every European travels nearly 800 km per year by train.