An Assessment of Railway Capacity

TLDR: In this paper, an in-depth study of the main factors that in∞uence railway capacity is performed on several Spanish railway infrastructures, and the results show how the capacity varies according to factors such as train speed, commercial stops, train heterogeneity, distance between railway signals, and timetable robustness.

Abstract: In this paper, we review the main concepts and methods to perform capacity analyses, and we present an automated tool that is able to perform several capacity analyses. Capacity is extremely dependent on infrastructure, tra‐c, and operating parameters. Therefore, an in-depth study of the main factors that in∞uence railway capacity is performed on several Spanish railway infrastructures. The results show how the capacity varies according to factors such as train speed, commercial stops, train heterogeneity, distance between railway signals, and timetable robustness. One consequence of the globalization of the economy and the increasing integration of the international economies is a considerable growth in the entire transport sector. During the 1990’s, many countries began to sufier from congestion in certain areas and on certain routes. Nowadays, there is no doubt about the congestion of the transport situation in some countries. The problem is now beginning to threaten economic competitiveness. Greater economic development cannot take place in the current transport scenario unless ambitious measures are taken. Revitalizing the railways is one of the principal measures