A deterministic approach to evaluating transport infrastructure at a terminus

This paper is concerned with the effect of the track layout on the capacity, as measured by the throughput rate of trains, of a railway terminus. We present a network representation of permitted train movements and formulate an integer program that determines optimum throughput rates. By applying the model to a series of ideal track layouts that are derived from a well-known 3-platform layout, we are able to confirm the surmised optimum throughput. The model is also used to analyse the capacity of some existing stations. There is some discussion of operational issues.