Transport and Mobility Laboratory: yearly report 2025

TRANSP-OR

TeachingTop

Spring 2025

Optimization and Simulation
Section(s): Doctoral program in Civil and Environmental Engineering
Lecturers: Michel Bierlaire, Cloe Cortes Balcells, Lea Ricard, Pavel Ilinov
Number of students: unknown

PhD thesesTop

Defense scheduled in 2025 or after and theses in progress

Ongoing

Alexis Gumy
Aux frontières de la mobilité. Vers la construction sociale des « bonnes manières » de se déplacer ?
Co-supervisor: Vincent Kaufmann
Marija Kukic
Modeling the activities of households
Cloe Cortes Balcells
Activity-based models and epidemics
Co-supervisor: Rico Krueger
Committee: Maya Abou Zeid (AUB), Kai Nagel (TU Berlin), Kenan Zhang (EPFL), Rico Krieger (DTU), Michel Bierlaire (EPFL), Andrew Sonta (EPFL, chair)
Exam: February 18, 2025
Tom Haering
Algorithms for large scale choice-based optimization
Nicola Ortelli
Assisted specification of choice models
Negar Rezvany
Urban energy demand
Co-supervisor: Tim Hillel

PhD committeesTop

Masters thesesTop

Mya Lahjouji
Section: Civil Engineering
Extracting activity schedules from MOBi mobility tracking data
Supervision:Negar Rezvany, Marija Kukic, Michel Bierlaire
Expert:
10/03/2025-11/07/2025
Amaury Annoye
Section: Civil Engineering
TBD
Supervision:Michel Bierlaire
Expert:
03/03/2025-31/08/2025
Arturo Cerasi
Section: Computer science
Adapting simulation algorithms for generating synthetic panel data at the household level
Supervision:Marija Kukic, Pavel Ilinov, Michel Bierlaire
Expert:
17/02/2025-20/06/2025
Jonas Affentranger
Section: Civil Engineering
Integrated Optimization and Learning Methods for Transport Re-planning under Uncertainty
Supervision:Michel Bierlaire
Expert: Bilge Atasoy
10/02/2025-25/07/2025
Anne-Valérie Preto
Section: Civil Engineering
Differentiation of Modal Preferences in Public Transportation: Analysis and Enhancement of the MOBiSim Model for Scenario Simulation in Lausanne
Supervision:Negar Rezvany, Fabian Torres, Michel Bierlaire
Expert: Antonin Danalet
09/09/2024-24/01/2025
Quoc Dang Tran
Section: Mathematics
Integrating Advanced Discrete Choice Models into the Capacitated Facility Location Problem with Decentralized Priority Queues
Supervision:Tom Haering, Lea Ricard
Expert: Virginie Lurkin
09/09/2024-10/01/2025

Semester projectsTop

Julien Ars
A real-time heuristic for the railway timetable rescheduling problem
Section:
February 17, 2025-May 26, 2025
Supervision: Lea Ricard, Negar Rezvany, Michel Bierlaire
Riad Bitar
Demand estimation on the RER Vaud
Section:
February 17, 2025-May 26, 2025
Supervision: Lea Ricard, Evangelos Paschalidis, Michel Bierlaire
Victoria Catherine Arduini
Gibbs Sampler for Generating Synthetic Longitudinal Data: Tracking Synthetic Individuals Over Time
Section: Computer science
February 17, 2025-May 30, 2025
Supervision: Marija Kukic, Pavel Ilinov, Michel Bierlaire
Alexandre Stuart
Étude des potentiels de flux logistiques ayant pour origine/destination le nouveau Terminal Combiné de Monthey
Section: Civil Engineering
February 17, 2025-July 30, 2025
Supervision: Michel Bierlaire, Pascal Bovey, Alexander Wright (Traject SA)
Melchior Carrier
Optimization of the IR90/95 rolling stock
Section:
February 17, 2025-May 26, 2025
Supervision: Lea Ricard, Prunelle Vogler, Michel Bierlaire
Clara Dalon, Quentin Gaillard
Évaluation de l’impact de l’abaissement de la vitesse et de la mise en place d’une voie dédiée au covoiturage sur le boulevard périphérique parisien sur les émissions de gaz à effet de serre et de particules
Section: Environmental Sciences and Engineering
February 17, 2025-May 30, 2025
Supervision: Michel Bierlaire
Flore Mueth, Cléa Schieber
Outil de calcul de l’accessibilité des massifs forestiers en cas d’incendie de forêt
Section: Environmental Sciences and Engineering
February 17, 2025-May 30, 2025
Supervision: Michel Bierlaire, Sébastien Levy
Mya Jamal Lahjouji
Pre-study to extracting activity schedules from tracking mobility data
Section: Civil Engineering
January 01, 2025-February 06, 2025
Supervision: Negar Rezvany, Marija Kukic, Michel Bierlaire
Younis Bouzar
Optimization of railway maintenance planning
Section:
September 09, 2024-January 17, 2025
Supervision: Lea Ricard, Marija Kukic, Michel Bierlaire
Alexandre Stuart
Étude des potentiels de flux logistiques ayant pour origine/destination le nouveau terminal combiné de Monthey
Section: Civil Engineering
September 09, 2024-February 27, 2025
Supervision: Michel Bierlaire, Pascal Bovey, Alexander Wright (Traject SA)

Additional teachingTop

Hybrid Choice Models
Discrete Choice Analysis: Predicting Individual Behavior and Market Demand, January 29, 2025
EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
Lecturer: Cortes Balcells Cloe
Assistant(s): Rezvany Negar, Ilinov Pavel
Nested Logit; Aggregate Forecasting
Discrete Choice Analysis: Predicting Individual Behavior and Market Demand, January 27, 2025
EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
Lecturer: Rezvany Negar
Assistant(s): Haering Tom, Torres Fabian

SeminarsTop

Prof. Domokos Esztergar-Kiss
Mobility as a service in theory and practice
Affiliation:
May 20, 2025, 14:30

Rina (Jingyi) Cheng
Data-Driven Demand Prediction and Optimization for On-Demand Meal Delivery Operations
Affiliation: TU Delft
March 07, 2025

Organization of conferences, workshops, etc.Top

Action versus Inaction facing Climate Change: the Symposium
June 01, 2025-June 03, 2025
Location: Hotel Europe, Zinal
Role: Chair
Discrete Choice Analysis: Predicting Individual Behavior and Market Demand
January 26, 2025-January 30, 2025
Location: EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
Role: Founder, organizer and lecturer
Winter School on Optimization and Operations Research
January 19, 2025-January 24, 2025
Location: Hotel Europe, Zinal
Role: Organizer

PublicationsTop

    Papers in international journalsTop

    1. Cortes Balcells, C., Krueger, R., and Bierlaire, M. (2025). Modeling Disease Spread: Integrating Mobility, Awareness, and Behavior, Transportation (accepted for publication on March 22, 2025)
    2. Ricard, L., and Bierlaire, M. (2025). 50 years of behavioral models for transportation and logistics, EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics 14(100156):.
    3. Atac, S., Obrenovic, N., and Bierlaire, M. (2025). Bike Sharing Systems: The Impact of Precise Trip Demand Forecasting on Operational Efficiency in Different City Structures , Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research 3(100058):.
    4. Ahmed, S., Fountas, G., Lurkin, V., Anastasopoulos, P., Zhang, Y., Bierlaire, M., and Mannering, F. (2025). The State of Urban Air Mobility Research: An Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems 26(2):1375-1394.
    5. Ortelli, N., de Lapparent, M., Varotto, S. F., and Bierlaire, M. (2025). An integrated ordered logit and latent variable model for accident injury severity and risk-taking behavior, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 192(104330):.
    6. Martin-Baos, J., Garcia-Rodenas, R., Rodriguez-Benitez, L., and Bierlaire, M. (2025). Scalable Kernel Logistic Regression with Nyström Approximation: Theoretical Analysis and Application to Discrete Choice Modelling, Neurocomputing 617(7):128975.
    7. Beine, M., Bierlaire, M., and Docquier, F. (2025). New York, Abu Dhabi, London or Stay at Home? Using a Cross-Nested Logit Model to Identify Complex Substitution Patterns in Migration, Journal of Economic Geography (accepted for publication on January 16, 2024)

        Technical reportsTop

        1. Ilinov, P., Matveenko, A., Tsakas, E., and Mark, V. (2025). Sequential Search with Flexible Information. Technical report TRANSP-OR 250331. Transport and Mobility Laboratory, ENAC, EPFL.
        2. Ricard, L., Desaulniers, G., Lodi, A., and Rousseau, L. (2025). Chance-constrained battery management strategies for the electric bus scheduling problem. Technical report arXiv:2503.19853. Transport and Mobility Laboratory, ENAC, EPFL.

        Speaker in external seminarsTop

        1. Ilinov, P., Matveenko, A., Rastislav, R., and Rava, d., Efficient Social Defaults. THEEM 2025, Thurgau Institute of Economics at the University of Konstanz, March 21, 2025, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland
        2. Kukic, M., and Bierlaire, M., Gibbs Sampler for Generating Longitudinal Synthetic Populations. 3rd EPFL Symposium on Transportation Research, EPFL, February 13, 2025, Barcelona, Spain
        3. Vogler, P., Bierlaire, M., and Meunier, F., Event-based modeling approach for the multi-agents daily scheduling problem. 3rd EPFL Symposium on Transportation Research, EPFL, February 13, 2025, Barcelona, Spain
        4. Haering, T., and Bierlaire, M., BHAMSLE: A Breakpoint Heuristic Algorithm for Maximum Simulated Likelihood Estimation of Advanced Discrete Choice Models. 3rd EPFL Symposium on Transportation Research, EPFL, February 13, 2025, Barcelona, Spain
        5. Rezvany, N., Hillel, T., and Bierlaire, M., A strategic dynamic model for integrating housing and transport interactions. 3rd EPFL Symposium on Transportation Research, EPFL, February 13, 2025, Barcelona, Spain

        Awards and distinctionsTop

        Research projects (4)Top

        Intermodal freight transportation in Switzerland: demand models
        Sponsor: Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
        Team: Michel Bierlaire (PI), Pavel Ilinov (PM)
        Period: December 01, 2024-November 30, 2025
        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.
        Multi-objective disruption management for robust railway operations
        Sponsor: Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
        Team: Michel Bierlaire (PI), Lea Ricard (PM)
        Period: April 01, 2024-October 31, 2025
        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.
        E-Bike City
        Sponsor: Swiss Federal Office of Energy
        Team: Michel Bierlaire (PI), Janody Pougala (PM)
        Period: September 01, 2022-December 31, 2025
        This project has the following content: Transport policy is currently not finding a way out of its dilemma; the imminent need to decarbonize a sector fast which has barely moved in the recent past and the social requirement to maintain and increase accessibility across all modes, but not to encourage sprawl while still allowing further decreases in the generalised cost of travel by new technologies and business models. We propose to use a radical departure from previous proposed ideas to enable the policy and transport industry to begin thinking from a different starting point. The design idea is to reallocate 50% of the existing urban road space to e-bikes, bicycles, and other micromobility modes and to assess what this change could achieve in terms of accessibility, generalised costs of travel, changes in daily life and reductions in emissions and CO2. The project will integrate careful involvement of the various stakeholders from citizens, cities, firms to interest groups, but will also provide the materials needed to communicate the ideas and their equity impacts visually and verbally at the required levels of complexity.
        Migration and Discrete Choice Models (MIGDCM)
        Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
        Team: Michel Bierlaire (PI), Silvia Varotto (PM), Evangelos Paschalidis (PM)
        Period: March 01, 2022-March 31, 2025
        International migration is at the forefront of policy debates in most countries around the world. In industrialized nations, the proportion of foreigners in total population increased from 4.5 to 12 percent between 1960 and 2019, stirring up fears about economic costs for natives, loss of national identity, and integration issues. In poor countries, international migration raises concerns about the brain drain of highly-skilled workers, as college and university graduates have a much greater propensity to emigrate internationally than the less educated. Hence, the questions of how many people migrate (i.e., migration intensity}, which people migrate first or are more likely to migrate (i.e., migrants' selection), and where migrants choose to settle (i.e., migrants' sorting) have been analyzed from all possible angles in recent literature. Specifically, understanding how people revise their decisions about whether to emigrate, and where to, when facing changes in the global environment is of crucial importance for decision-makers.

        Miscellaneous responsibilitiesTop

        Ongoing

          Bierlaire

        1. Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Transportation Research Part C (since January 01, 2006)
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        2. Director of the Transport and Mobility Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland (since July 01, 2006)
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        3. Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research (since November 08, 2011)
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        4. Associate Editor, Operations Research (since January 01, 2012)
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        5. Member of the International Advisory Committee, International Symposium on Transportation and Traffic Theory (since July 17, 2013)
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        6. Member of the research council, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), Bern, Switzerland (since January 01, 2015)
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        7. Founder, member of the steering committee, European Association for Research in Transportation (since September 09, 2015)
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        8. Associate Editor, Transport Findings (since October 01, 2018)
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        9. Member of the International Scientific Advisory Board , Transportation Research Center, Kumasi, Kumasi, Ghana (since November 01, 2018)
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        10. Member of the Editorial Board, Transportation Research Part B (since December 01, 2018)
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        11. Member of the Social Commission, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (since April 01, 2023)
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        12. Member of the Scientific Committee, Fondation Modus, Geneva, Switzerland (since October 14, 2024)
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        Krueger

        1. Member of the Editorial Board, Transportation Letters (since February 15, 2021)
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        Varotto

        1. Member of the Committee Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics (ACP50) , Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C. (since April 15, 2022)
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        Expertise

        • Transportation Research
        • Operations Research
        • Discrete Choice Models

        Methods

        Modeling, optimization, simulation

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