The Impacts of Track Crossover Provision on Rail Disruption Performance

摘要

This paper explores the importance of track crossover provision in addressing the issue of replacement busservices in response to unplanned rail service disruptions using a case study in Melbourne, Australia.Crossovers act to determine the point at which rail replacement bus services can operate from and are thuscritical in determining the scale, costs and benefits of rail disruption management. Despite researchevidence that crossover provision is important in managing rail disruption there is little guidance in theresearch literature about how this can be achieved and what the relative costs and benefits of providingcrossovers are.Theoretical modelling evaluated passenger and operator impacts of alternative crossover plans fora case study of unplanned service disruptions on a suburban rail line in Melbourne, Australia. Results showthat an additional crossover reduced user rail disruption costs by between 78% and 96% whilst bus hirecosts were reduced by between 63% and 93%. Results suggest that only a few rail disruptions annuallymake the provision of track crossovers financially viable based on savings in rail replacement bus servicecosts. Research found that crossovers located as close as possible to major disruption locations provide thehighest users and operator benefits. Sensitivity tests show that even with substantially lower ridership andwith lower frequency of disruption, the addition of crossovers was financially positive and generatedsubstantial user benefits. All highlighted results are in respect to the one suburban rail line under analysis.Overall it would appear that providing additional track crossovers is a highly positive means ofreducing costs and improving services and presents a rare ‘win-win’ solution for railway management.However research has identified that crossovers can be a cause of disruption on some rail systems and thisfactor also needs to be considered in rail planning.