Service-Oriented Train Operation Design for Suburban Railways: Considering Skip-Stop and Multi-Group

Suburban railways play a vital role in the daily travel of commuters. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the service-oriented suburban railway operation design. This study proposes an effective operation mode to adapt to the unbalanced passenger demand of suburban railways. Based on the combination of skip-stop and multi-group, a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model is constructed to solve the stopping plans, departure frequency, and number of compositions. Further, the large neighborhood search (LNS) algorithm is used to solve the model. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of the method are verified using the Shanghai Jinshan Railway as an example. The results show that the operation mode combining skip-stop and multi-group can effectively reduce the train operation cost and the waiting time of passengers. The results of the sensitivity analysis provide guiding information for the frequency proportions and stop plans for express and local trains.