Using simulated annealing for personnel assignment in railway nodes

Efficient management of individual processes in a railway transport node is very important for ensuring the smooth operation of railway transport. Although it is possible to make detailed plans of realization these processes, effective operational management is also essential. The primary reason is that the operation of a railway node is subject to many unpredictable factors, which necessitates a lot of operative interventions. Personnel assignment, particularly for drivers who ensure the movement of individual trains, is a significant component of operative management. The work of these drivers must be carried out efficiently, and various optimization methods can be employed for their allocation. Given the importance of time efficiency, this paper explores the use of the simulated annealing heuristic. This heuristic approach is validated on several datasets, demonstrating satisfactory results compared to the exact methods we have previously considered. The findings suggest that using of simulated annealing is a viable and efficient solution for optimizing driver assignments in the dynamic environment of a railway transport node.