Solving the High-Speed Railway Crew Matching Problem: From the Group Skill Balance and Crew Member Preference Perspective

The crew matching problem (CMP) is a fundamental component of the crew scheduling problem, serving as a core element that determines the service quality of crew operations and the satisfaction of crew members. It refers to the planning of forming crew teams by combining chief stewards and stewards. However, existing studies have not sufficiently explored this issue. Based on this, this study constructs a multi-objective optimization model for the crew matching plan from the dual perspectives of skill balance and crew team collaboration preferences. The GUROBI solver is employed to obtain exact solutions to the problem, and the model’s effectiveness is validated through small-scale numerical examples. Tests are further conducted from dimensions such as weight variation and problem scale, clarifying the maximum tractable problem size within acceptable computation time. A comparative analysis is performed against manually formulated crew matching plans. The results show that, compared with manually formulated plans, the crew matching plan improves the skill balance of crew team services by 5% and increases satisfaction by 80%, providing a quantitative basis for decision-making for high-speed railway crew management departments.