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Uncertainties in scheduling and execution of trackwork in Sweden

Ivina, Daria LU orcid ; Olsson, Nils LU ; Palmqvist, Carl-William LU orcid and Winslott Hiselius, Lena LU (2023) In Public Transport 15. p.767-789
Abstract
Trackwork planning and scheduling are demanding because they require strategic foresight and must be completed well in advance. In Sweden, trackwork is performed by maintenance contracting companies during an operation period free from trains. In the contractors’ practice, once the maintenance plan is authorised, some unexpected events might interrupt the plan’s execution, leading to uncertainties. The purpose of this study is to identify and classify uncertainties and strategies applied to manage uncertainties in the contractors’ everyday planning and scheduling of trackwork. This work presents semi-structured interviews with foremen and planners at railway maintenance contracting companies in Sweden. The main findings show that in... (More)
Trackwork planning and scheduling are demanding because they require strategic foresight and must be completed well in advance. In Sweden, trackwork is performed by maintenance contracting companies during an operation period free from trains. In the contractors’ practice, once the maintenance plan is authorised, some unexpected events might interrupt the plan’s execution, leading to uncertainties. The purpose of this study is to identify and classify uncertainties and strategies applied to manage uncertainties in the contractors’ everyday planning and scheduling of trackwork. This work presents semi-structured interviews with foremen and planners at railway maintenance contracting companies in Sweden. The main findings show that in trackwork planning and scheduling, contractors deal with two types of uncertainties: internal and external. We categorised uncertainties and strategies to deal with uncertainties and described them on tactical and operational levels. The majority of the revealed uncertainties led to trackwork rescheduling. Furthermore, we suggest that current strategies to manage uncertainties applied at contracting companies can be improved by revising organisational design strategies for maintenance projects. This work increases the understanding and supports the management of uncertainties in trackwork planning and scheduling. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Railway maintenance, Trackwork scheduling, Planning, Uncertainty
in
Public Transport
volume
15
pages
767 - 789
publisher
Springer Nature
external identifiers
  • scopus:85172899120
ISSN
1613-7159
DOI
10.1007/s12469-023-00322-x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
dfb52658-e0a9-49da-807e-d9b503f9c4e0
date added to LUP
2023-12-04 15:41:07
date last changed
2024-02-17 11:50:36
@article{dfb52658-e0a9-49da-807e-d9b503f9c4e0,
  abstract     = {{Trackwork planning and scheduling are demanding because they require strategic foresight and must be completed well in advance. In Sweden, trackwork is performed by maintenance contracting companies during an operation period free from trains. In the contractors’ practice, once the maintenance plan is authorised, some unexpected events might interrupt the plan’s execution, leading to uncertainties. The purpose of this study is to identify and classify uncertainties and strategies applied to manage uncertainties in the contractors’ everyday planning and scheduling of trackwork. This work presents semi-structured interviews with foremen and planners at railway maintenance contracting companies in Sweden. The main findings show that in trackwork planning and scheduling, contractors deal with two types of uncertainties: internal and external. We categorised uncertainties and strategies to deal with uncertainties and described them on tactical and operational levels. The majority of the revealed uncertainties led to trackwork rescheduling. Furthermore, we suggest that current strategies to manage uncertainties applied at contracting companies can be improved by revising organisational design strategies for maintenance projects. This work increases the understanding and supports the management of uncertainties in trackwork planning and scheduling.}},
  author       = {{Ivina, Daria and Olsson, Nils and Palmqvist, Carl-William and Winslott Hiselius, Lena}},
  issn         = {{1613-7159}},
  keywords     = {{Railway maintenance; Trackwork scheduling; Planning; Uncertainty}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  pages        = {{767--789}},
  publisher    = {{Springer Nature}},
  series       = {{Public Transport}},
  title        = {{Uncertainties in scheduling and execution of trackwork in Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12469-023-00322-x}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s12469-023-00322-x}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}