Simulation of railway traffic control

Traffic control is the centre of the railway traffic system. The success of a railway traffic simulation model depends very much on an adequate modelling of the traffic control. The main objective of a traffic control system is to minimise delays. Important tasks which contribute to this goal are controlling connections between trains, deciding about priorities and controlling the rotations of crew and rolling stock. In this paper, we discuss a simulation model of railway traffic which is centred around the traffic control functions. It is observed that an object-oriented approach to the modelling of traffic control presents itself as very natural. It results in a very flexible model, which can accommodate a range of present and future traffic control systems. Finally, we present some results of a simulation study that investigates the possibility of partially automating traffic control.