Real-time dispatch of trams in storage yards

Real-time dispatch problems arise when preparing and executing the daily schedule of local transport companies. We consider the daily dispatch of transport vehicles like trams in storage yards. Immediately on arrival, each tram has to be assigned to a location in the depot and to an appropriate round trip of the next schedule period. In order to achieve a departure order satisfying the scheduled demand, shunting of vehicles may be unavoidable. Since shunting takes time and causes operational cost, the number of shunting movements should be minimized without violation of operationl constraints. As an alternative, we may serve some round trips with trams of type differing from the requested type. In practice, the actual arrival order of trams may differ substantially from the scheduled arrival order. Then, dispatch decisions are due within a short time interval and have to be based on incomplete information. For such real-time dispatch problems, we develop combinatorial optimization models and exact as well as heuristic algorithms. Computational experience for real-world and random data shows that the derived methods yield good (often optimal) solutions within the required tight time bounds.