Calculation of railway network capacity: comparing methodologies for lines and nodes

In an age where particular attention is focused on the best use of railway systems, the maintenance and the technological adaptation of available resources, an important emphasis is played on the calculation of capacity in rail traffic. The paper presents the second part of the ongoing Ph.D. research which has been started on November 2008, concerning capacity analysis techniques and methodologies for railway systems management. The global aim of the research is to offer a technical manual including of overview and descriptions of all methods elaborated from 1950 till today. For all techniques and methodologies which have been examined, an electronic database has been created which is clearly not exhaustive, but allows "comparing" all the aspects that are covered by the term "railway capacity”. In the second part of the paper, the technical benchmark is completed by the application of these methods to a sample portion of the rail network. In order to perform a comparative application of the methods, it has been selected a line, which will result a common reference for the following analysis. In the last part of the paper the capacity of nodes is tackled. Finally a preliminary structure of an integrated capacity calculation instrument, characterized by different levels of detail, therefore useful for technical-scientific and operational scopes is going to be described in the fourth part of the paper.