SBIR Phase I: A Decision Support System for the Railroad Blocking Problem

本小企业创新研究I期项目涉及开发铁路阻塞问题的决策支持系统，这是铁路网络上汽车运输中最重要的优化问题之一。它将开发一系列软件产品，使用最先进的优化技术、先进的数据结构和信息技术工具，使决策过程自动化，从而提高运营效率并降低成本。铁路阻塞问题的决策支持系统是实现这一目标的第一步。铁路并没有从优化领域的进步中受益，他们的大部分计划和调度需求都依赖于人工决策过程。铁路阻塞问题是一个非常大规模的优化问题，无法使用最先进的算法思想来解决。拟议的工作将使用PI开发的启发式算法来解决这个问题，使用一种新兴的技术，称为超大规模邻域（VLSN）搜索拟议的第一阶段研究包括将几个额外的功能，这个算法和执行一个彻底的计算测试的软件。该项目的成功将导致铁路行业对优化模型和基于优化的软件的更大接受，并将为其他几个同样重要的问题（包括区段到列车分配、列车调度、机车调度和乘务员调度）的新软件产品铺平道路。从长远来看，这将使美国铁路更加高效，盈利能力得到改善。预计该软件的使用将为美国任何主要铁路每年节省数千万美元。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project concerns developing a decision support system for the railroad-blocking problem, one of the most important optimization problems arising in the shipment of cars over the railroad network. It will develop a series of software products using state-of-the-art optimization techniques, advanced data structures, and information technology tools to automate their decision-making process, thereby improving their operational efficiency and reducing costs. A decision support system for the railroad-blocking problem is the first step towards this goal. Railroads have not benefited from the advances taking place in the field of optimization and they rely on manual decision-making process for most of their planning and scheduling needs.The railroad-blocking problem is a very large-scale optimization problem and cannot be solved to optimality using the state-of-the-art algorithmic ideas. The proposed work will use a heuristic algorithm developed by the PI to solve this problem using an emerging technique, known as the Very Large-Scale Neighborhood (VLSN) Search The proposed Phase I research consists of incorporating several additional features to this algorithm and performing a thorough computational testing of the software. The success of this project will lead to greater acceptance of the optimization models and optimization based software in the railroad industry and will pave the way for new software products for several other equally important problems including the block-to-train assignment, train scheduling, locomotive scheduling, and crew scheduling. In the long run, this will lead to more efficient US railroads with improved profitability. It is anticipated that the use of this software will result in an annual savings in tens of millions of dollars for any major US railroad.