Analysis of Influence of Number of Station Stops on Punctuality of Passenger and Suburban Trains

One of the main tasks of railway employees is to ensure 100 % punctuality of passenger and suburban trains. However, this is impossible due to the action of various reasons, comprising actual reliability of technical equipment and vehicles, natural and other factors. Various companies have different standards and practices of setting and monitoring relevant indicators.

The objective of the study was to find out the degree of influence of the e factor formulated as «the number of station stops on the route» on the rate of punctuality of passenger and suburban trains.

Calculations and approbation of the suggested model were performed using the example of the JSC Russian Railways.

Russian Railways standardise punctuality indicators based on the past performance principle. This does not guarantee that the objective conditions for organising operational work on various railways are fully considered. Besides, it is suggested to consider as main conditions: the level of the use of transit capacity, the technical condition of the infrastructure and rolling stock, etc. However, the factor of the number of station stops of passenger or suburban trains en route envisaged by the traffic schedule is not considered. The greater is the number of station stops, the greater impact, in the absence of a possibility to recover the delay and catch up the traffic schedule, this factor has on the level of traffic punctuality. In turn, the chance to get back on traffic schedule in passenger long distance traffic is higher than in suburban traffic with short routes.

The number of station stops varies significantly across the railways, which indicates the unequal conditions of their operation according to this factor.

The numerical value of the e factor, as well as of the values of the share of delayed trains (calculated separately for passenger and suburban trains) were determined: by delay in departure – á_dep; by delay in arrival at intermediate points of the route – á_int; by delay in arrival at the destination – á_ar. Based on these data, parameters have been established that have allowed to determine the relationship between the number of station stops (e) and the change in the share of delayed trains. Using the methods of mathematical statistics, the insignificant influence of the e parameter on the values of á_dep, á_int and á_ar has been established. It is shown that the punctuality of passenger and suburban trains is significantly influenced by the traffic conditions after departure from the initial station and especially by the possibility to come back on the traffic schedule after possible delays along the route. In this case, one should consider the combined organisation of passenger and freight traffic on most lines of the considered network. It is proposed to optimise the number of standardised indicators in view of their reduction.

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