Abstract Procedures for improving the efficiency of classification yard operations are studied in this paper. Multistage sorting strategies make efficient use of land and tracks. Equations are derived giving the service time per car and space requirements of three multistage sorting strategies: the sorting-by-block, the sorting-by-train, and the triangular sorting strategies. Exact service time formulas are given for the first two strategies, and an approximation is given for the last strategy. The approximation, when compared with exact calculations, proved to be quite robust. Errors were on the order of one percent. Sensitivity analysis showed that the formulas are accurate when assumptions used in the approximations are not satisfied. A surprising finding was that the triangular sorting strategy, which allows many more classifications on a given set of tracks than the other two, does not require significantly greater service time in flat yards. Presently, the triangular strategy is not widely used in the U.S., in preference for the sorting-by-block strategy.


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    Title :

    Railroad classification yard throughput: The case of multistage triangular sorting


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1982-04-14


    Size :

    12 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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