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Cost-Efficiency In Regional Commuter Train Traffic

Malmberg, Filip (2016) MIO920
Production Management
Abstract
Public transport and health care constitute the top two priorities for regional authorities in
Sweden. Being cost-efficient in the execution of these services is important, not only to lower
the costs but also to reach maximum social benefits for the available funding. In sectors like
these, where the value of what is produced is not solely measured through the consumers’
willingness to pay, maximising cost-efficiency proves to be challenging. Therefore this thesis
aims to take a holistic approach towards the understanding of how the provider of regional
public transportation can improve the service quality of a commuter train system.
Based on the consumers’ and customers’ perception of service quality the study investigates
what... (More)
Public transport and health care constitute the top two priorities for regional authorities in
Sweden. Being cost-efficient in the execution of these services is important, not only to lower
the costs but also to reach maximum social benefits for the available funding. In sectors like
these, where the value of what is produced is not solely measured through the consumers’
willingness to pay, maximising cost-efficiency proves to be challenging. Therefore this thesis
aims to take a holistic approach towards the understanding of how the provider of regional
public transportation can improve the service quality of a commuter train system.
Based on the consumers’ and customers’ perception of service quality the study investigates
what part of a commuter train system that a regional train authority should focus
on, in order to find maximum performance to minimum cost. One of the main findings
concerns, that while the operation of the trains is the most costly part of the train system, the
balance between high maintenance capability and the fleet-size has the highest potential for
improvement. At least from the regional authority’s perspective.
The study contributes with a mathematical model, which uses a backorder cost for each
vehicle that the maintenance organisation fails to put in traffic when its needed. A heuristic
algorithm that minimises the expected value of the objective function given a specified
domain, containing different support organisations, proved to be useful in the case study.
Furthermore, the case-study shows the importance of having an effective maintenance
organisation performing most of the maintenance outside of peak-traffic. Having spare trains
proves to be a costly way to uphold the desired level of traffic. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Malmberg, Filip
supervisor
organization
course
MIO920
year
type
M1 - University Diploma
subject
keywords
thematical modeling, Cost Efficiency, Cost Effectiveness, Optimisation, Optimization, Operations research, Rolling stock, Regional Train Authority, Maintenance capacity planing, Simulation, Heuristic algorithm, Service Quality, Regional Commuter Trains
other publication id
16/5545
language
English
id
8892288
date added to LUP
2016-09-22 15:37:00
date last changed
2016-09-22 15:37:00
@misc{8892288,
  abstract     = {{Public transport and health care constitute the top two priorities for regional authorities in
Sweden. Being cost-efficient in the execution of these services is important, not only to lower
the costs but also to reach maximum social benefits for the available funding. In sectors like
these, where the value of what is produced is not solely measured through the consumers’
willingness to pay, maximising cost-efficiency proves to be challenging. Therefore this thesis
aims to take a holistic approach towards the understanding of how the provider of regional
public transportation can improve the service quality of a commuter train system.
Based on the consumers’ and customers’ perception of service quality the study investigates
what part of a commuter train system that a regional train authority should focus
on, in order to find maximum performance to minimum cost. One of the main findings
concerns, that while the operation of the trains is the most costly part of the train system, the
balance between high maintenance capability and the fleet-size has the highest potential for
improvement. At least from the regional authority’s perspective.
The study contributes with a mathematical model, which uses a backorder cost for each
vehicle that the maintenance organisation fails to put in traffic when its needed. A heuristic
algorithm that minimises the expected value of the objective function given a specified
domain, containing different support organisations, proved to be useful in the case study.
Furthermore, the case-study shows the importance of having an effective maintenance
organisation performing most of the maintenance outside of peak-traffic. Having spare trains
proves to be a costly way to uphold the desired level of traffic.}},
  author       = {{Malmberg, Filip}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Cost-Efficiency In Regional Commuter Train Traffic}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}