Analytical Capacity Management with Blocking Times

Analytical capacity research is an important infrastructure and operations planning tool that can be used alone or in conjunction with simulation. The blocking time theory is a new approach in analytical capacity research. The blocking time is the total elapsed time a section of track is exclusively allocated to a train and therefore blocked for other trains. Calculating blocking times and producing blocking time diagrams leads to a very detailed evaluation of the capacity and exploitation of a railroad line. It also shows very clearly how the capacity depends upon the signaling system. Beside capacity research, blocking time analysis is also a great tool to support computer-based scheduling. Although originally developed for European railroads, blocking time analysis has now found first applications in North American railroad industry.