Operations Research

We identify new solutions to transportation problems, on the ground, in the air, or on the sea, transport of people or goods, whatever the mode. We focus on technical solutions, but also on their impact on the system as a whole. We are also interested in the interactions of the transportation systems with the land use, the economy, the environment, etc.

Intermodal freight transportation in Switzerland: demand models

This project aims to enhance demand modeling in intermodal freight transport through two key approaches: developing a more realistic synthetic dataset based on available data and adapting the activity-based approach for decision-making in freight transportation for Switzerland.

Principal investigator

Michel Bierlaire

Project manager

Pavel Ilinov

Sponsor

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)

Period

December 01, 2024-November 30, 2025

External collaboration

SBB

LaTeX description

Multi-objective disruption management for robust railway operations

In passenger railway services, a timetable defines the scheduled arrival and departure times of trains at designated stations. When a disruption occurs, the railway operator must establish a disposition timetable, a complex task due to the intricacies of rail operations and the interactions in the network. This research aims to develop a decision-support tool that optimizes disruption management using a multi-objective optimization approach. The tool will account for system constraints while minimizing passenger inconvenience, operational costs, and deviations from the original timetable. Designed with practitioners' needs in mind, it will be integrated into the industrial software Viriato, enabling the use of real production data for algorithm evaluation and refinement.

Principal investigator

Michel Bierlaire

Project manager

Lea Ricard

Sponsor

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)

Period

April 01, 2024-October 31, 2025

External collaboration

SBB

External collaboration

SMA

LaTeX description