An Intelligent Train Marshaling Plan of Freight Cars Considering I/O Arrangements
This paper proposes a new marshaling method for assembling an outgoing train considering the layout of incoming freight cars as well as the outgoing ones. In the addressed problem, freight cars are initially located in a incomming train by the random layo
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Abstract This paper proposes a new marshaling method for assembling an outgoing train considering the layout of incoming freight cars as well as the outgoing ones. In the addressed problem, freight cars are initially located in a incomming train by the random layout, and they are rearranged and lined into a main track in a certain desired order for an outgoing train. In the proposed method, each set of freight cars that have the same destination make a group, and the desired group layout constitutes the best outgoing train. Then, the incoming freight cars are classified into several “sub-tracks” searching better assignment in order to reduce the total processing time. Classifications and marshaling plans based on the processing time are obtained by a reinforcement learning system. In order to evaluate the processing time, the total transfer distance of a locomotive and the total movement counts of freight cars are simultaneously considered. The total processing time is reduced by obtaining simultaneously the classification of incoming cars, the order of movements of freight cars, the position for each removed car, the layout of groups in a train, the arrangement of cars in a group and the number of cars to be moved. Keywords Container transfer problem · Freight train · Marshaling · Q-learning · Reinforcement learning · Scheduling
1 Introduction At railway stations, train marshaling operation plays an important role to connect different modes of transportation. Since freight trains can transport goods only between railway stations, modal shifts are required for area that has no railway. Goods on logistics are carried in containers, each of which is loaded on a freight car. A freight Y. Hirashima (B) Osaka Institute of Technology, 1-79-1 Kitayama, Hirakata, Osaka 573-0196, Japan e-mail: [email protected] G.-C. Yang et al. (eds.), Transactions on Engineering Technologies, Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering 275, DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-7684-5_13, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
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train is consists of several freight cars, and each car has its own destination. Thus, the train driven by a locomotive travels several destinations decoupling corresponding freight cars at each freight station. In intermodal transports including rail, containers carried into the station are located at the freight yard in the arriving order. The initial layout of freight cars in the yard is determined by considering both arrangement of incoming train and the arriving order of the containers. For efficient shift in assembling outgoing train, freight cars must be rearranged before coupling to the freight train. In general, the rearrangement process is conducted in a freight yard that consists of a main-track and several sub-tracks. Freight cars are initially placed on sub-tracks, rearranged, and lined into the main track. This series of operation is called marshaling, and several methods to solve the marshaling problem have been proposed [1, 8]. Also, similar problems are treated by mathematical
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