Refining arrival headway for high-speed trains approaching a large railway station: a speed profile intervention approach

Abstract Arrival headway, the minimum time interval between two trains that consecutively stop in the same railway yard, significantly influences overall railway capacity and becomes a bottleneck in large high-speed railway yards. This occurs because the leading train slows considerably along the long receiving route to the yard; while, the following train continues at top speed, creating a substantial spatial and temporal interval between them. This paper proposes a speed profile intervention (SPI) approach to reduce arrival headway. By setting appropriate speed limits in specific block sections for each train, the following train decelerates in advance, thereby shortening the interval with its predecessor. We first study the impact of speed values and locations on arrival headway theoretically, then validate our findings through a multi-agent simulation approach to quantitatively investigate the relationship between headway and SPI parameters. Simulation experiments using real-world data from the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway demonstrate that the SPI approach can significantly reduce arrival headway without any infrastructure modifications. To mitigate potential side effects on travel time associated with this approach, we perform an analysis that involves setting appropriate speed limit values and selecting strategic locations for their implementation.