Short-term train planning above and beyond mountains and fjords

Jernbaneverket, the Norwegian rail infrastructure manager, will be using the software TPS from HaCon for its short-notice timetable planning in the future. Jernbaneverket is going to use the planning tool for the entire Norwegian rail network.

Jernbaneverket was separated from the Norges Statsbaner (the state-run railway company in Norway) in 1996 and has been run as an independent company since then. The infrastructure manager is responsible for the maintenance of the railway infrastructure, the construction of new tracks and allocating rail capacity to the train operating companies. More than 56 million passengers and considerable amounts of freight were transported on Norwegian rails in 2009.

TPS complements the current annual planning of the timetable with its short-notice train path allocations, train cancellations, construction sites or special trains planning capabilities. Up to now, these changes were processed and distributed manually. Using TPS, Jernbaneverket is getting a tool, with which changes can be managed and automatically forwarded within the system. "We are providing Jernbaneverket with a solution, with which they can optimise their processes during timetable creation and thus also speed them up," says Claus Müller-Haude, TPS project manager at HaCon. "Mistakes are reduced to a minimum thanks to automation." The solution will be seamlessly embedded into the existing IT-system landscape. The software "made in Hannover" already takes the European signalling system, ETCS (European Train Control System) level 2 into consideration during the planning and dispatching process.

The national network manager would like to improve the communication with its customers, the train operating companies, by using the software. "We can make precise statements about the short-notice planning to our customers," explains Anders Linnerud, project responsible at Jernbaneverket. "Exactly that is important in our field. Well-informed customers are satisfied customers." In May 2011, the software should be ready to be used by Jernbaneverket.