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Railroad Blocking
The blocking plan, which enables the efficient movement of railcars, is an important part of a railroad’s overall operating plan. Designing such an operating plan is a very large-scale and complex optimization problem. Currently, it is a problem solved manually through a lengthy and cumbersome process that often involves a team working for several months.
Innovative Scheduling has developed two software products, Innovative Railroad Blocking Optimizer (IRBO) and Innovative Train Scheduling Optimizer (ITSO), which allow railroads to develop a new operating plan within a few weeks or update a given operating plan within a few days using fewer employee resources. These software products can also reduce annual operating costs by tens of millions of dollars compared to the manually generated operating plans. These two products can be used separately and in conjunction, but for best results they should be used together.
Given the origin-destination traffic data and yard capacity data, IRBO generates a blocking plan for the entire network that minimizes the total cost of railcar mileage and handlings, while satisfying a variety of operating constraints. The underlying methodological approach is based on a Very Large-Scale Neighborhood (VLSN) Search technique and is implemented using highly sophisticated computer science techniques.
IRBO is a web-based interactive decision support system that enables the user to:
review and update datarun the optimization engine to determine the optimal blocking plan,perform an in-depth analysis of the optimal plan, andview the optimal plan through reports, charts, and maps.IRBO is available either for pilot studies to demonstrate potential benefits of the system for your company, or for immediate licensing. IRBO can be customized to meet your specific business needs, and can also be adapted for other transportation sectors including trucking, package delivery, airlines, barges, and shipping lines.
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