Evaluating the Effects of using a Fuzzy Controller in Timetable Generation for Commuter Rail Services

Abstract: Scheduling trains is a hard problem where current solutions typically create timetables that create undesirable amounts of delay for the trains that use them. This study considers the fact that conventional timetables, which only use fixed intervals to schedule trains, might not be optimal for minimising the delay and travel time of passengers. In this study, we compare this ”simple” timetable with timetables generated via a fuzzy controller which has access to information about the flow of passengers throughout the day. The hypothesis is that this fuzzy controller therefore becomes more ”intelligent”. We evaluate the performance using a custom-built simulator that measures the average delay and travel time of the passengers. We conclude that the fuzzy controller can generate timetables that quickly adapt to passenger demands and show favourable resource usage over the simple timetable. However, more research is needed on the input variables and their usage within the fuzzy controller to further optimise the performance.