Development of a queuing simulation model for train passengers

Abstract

Sri Lanka Railway (SLR) is currently having a schedule with uneven time intervals between trains. It reduces the popularity of the railway system and as a result new passengers hesitate to join the system. Hence, this current system is generally used by regular travellers only. In order to seek ways to improve the train schedules simulation based approaches have not been used in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the aim of the research was to develop a simulation model to minimise queuing time of passengers while maintaining an even interval between trains. A passenger survey and a railway survey were carried out to find current issues related to the timetable and the service. Considering the feedback of passengers, a simulation model was created using the Anylogic simulation software for the current train scheduling and the proposed train scheduling systems. The simulation model shows that passenger queuing time is able to be changed using the parameters of the model. Results also indicate that queuing can be potentially reduced using even time intervals between trains. However there could be a necessity to change the number of compartments to cater for the number of commuters in the proposed system. In addition the proposed system needs to be piloted in order to understand and overcome the practical limitations. This could potentially help to improve the popularity of the railway system in Sri Lanka. The operation model was developed between two stations due to limitation of the software. Thus, it is proposed to develop the model to cover the entire train fleet and the network to obtain more accurate and repetitive results.