Optimization and Coordination of SEPTA Regional Rail Abstract

The SEPTA Regional Rail system serves as an important network for the Philadelphia region, moving many commuters during the peak hours on suburb-to-city or city-to-suburb trips. Although this service fulfills commuter needs well, the opportunity exists for SEPTA to improve service during the entire day and on non-commuter trips.

This project developed a new model for scheduling Regional Rail service with a focus on improving the ability to transfer among lines to encourage suburb to-suburb trips. The model targeted operational factors, increasing the frequency of service or reducing the scheduled wait time between two given lines, while bypassing the need for expensive capital improvements. The optimization model minimized the average wait time for passengers traveling between lines according to probabilistic weightings based on the priority of a given transfer. These scheduled transfer times were subject to physical and policy constraints that limited the range of times when a given train could travel. The alternative schedules produced by the optimizations were evaluated upon their cost performance package.

Group 16 Authors

Kyle Andrews ‘09 Dan Garzarella 09 Tim Potens ’09 Jake Quain ‘09

Advisor

Mr. Harry Garforth

Demo Times

Thursday, April 26, 2008 11:00am, 2:30pm, 3:00pm, 3:30pm University of Pennsylvania Dept. of Electrical and Systems Engineering

Design Process

Collect Data on Rail Network Determine Priority of Each Potential Transfer Track Layouts. Station Spacing Consider Ridership, Geography, and Alternative Options

Results

We ran our model under several different scenarios and were able to reduce the average wait time. Here we show our results when we designed with the current headways and fleet of trains, and if we were to run smaller trains on shorter headways.

Departure Times at 30th Street Station Optimal Schedule w/ Current Headways Optimal Schedule w/ 30 Minute Headways

Formulate Objective Function Minimize Passenger Average Wait Time

Inputs of the Optimization Scheduling Model

Variables Departure /Arrival Times at each Station Terminal Times Policy Constraints Frequency of Service Minimum Headway Between Trains Minimum Terminal Times Train Routes Physical Constraints Track Layouts Walking Time Between Transfers Other Factors Operating Speed Station Stopping Time Maintenance/Energy Cost Per Car-Mile Cost Per Amtrak Train-Mile for Rail Use Employee Wages Number of Cars per Train Delays Define Constraints in Program Form Create a Means for Evaluation Produce Outputs for Multiple Scenarios Evaluate Alternatives Generate and Show Conclusions 30 th Street Station Include Methods of Verification Wait Time Charts, Cost Comparisons

Current Schedule Wait Times for Key Transfers

R3e to R6e R6e to R3e R5e to R2w R2w to R5e R7w to R5w R5w to R7w 0:00 0:10 0:20 0:30 0:40 0:50 1:00 Change Frequency of Each Line

Optimal Schedule w/ Current Headways

R3e to R6e R6e to R3e R5e to R2w R2w to R5e R7w to R5w R5w to R7w 0:00 0:10 0:20 0:30 0:40 0:50 1:00

Optimal Schedule w/ 30 Minute Headways