Crossrail: Intermediate stages

The ambitions and world-famous Crossrail line will bring about 1,5 million more people at commuting time from central London and greatly relieve congestion on the overcrowded Central line of the Underground.

The infrastructure Manager RFL aims at selecting an operator that guarantees the maximum quality of service. It is obtained through a series of indicators, in which a key role is played by punctuality and reliability. Our task was to create a microscopic simulation model of the entire network, and simulate it using the timetable provided by RFL. Furthermore, trenolab created a new timetable from scratch, aimed at better exploiting the line and being flexible towards changes in service requirements. We developed an additional ad-hoc functionality in the TRENOplus timetable planning tool to create a timetable for a metro system in a few clicks. The timetable was simulated considering real input delays obtained by analysing the existing network with TRENOanalysis. Simulation was used to quantify the delays and variations of service frequency, for which the operator would have to pay.

The intermediate opening stages of Crossrail will last for 6 months each, and involve first the operation of the Heathrow Connect service, then the opening of the new Central Section between Paddington and Abbey Wood and finally the second branch to Shenfield.

trenolab has been supporting MTR Crossrail evaluating the performances of the timetable drafts, identifying their weaknesses and proposing alternatives to overcome them.