Automated Rail Cargo Consortium (ARCC) work package (WP) 2 ‘Real-time Yard Management' Deliverable D2.2

This report is the second deliverable in work package (WP) 2 ‘Real-time Yard Management’ of the Automated Rail Cargo Consortium (ARCC) project. In WP 2 research and innovation activities lead to the analysis, understanding and definition of efficient business processes and a common understanding of decision processes and their optimisation and automation potential, focused on the operations management in marshalling yards and terminals and the interaction with network/line management. This report develops an understanding of yard-line interaction by providing a detailed analysis of a marshalling yard in Sweden and the interaction between a freight company, a yard manager and an infrastructure manager. In chapter 2 the different actors are identified, and their requirements and needs are outlined. The chapter highlights the actors’ interdependencies and supports the hypothesis that coordinating line and yard operations is advantageous. In chapters 3 and 4 the planning and operational processes of the different actors are described. All actors have many possibilities for communication, but the overall planning process is quite sequential and individual, and collaborative planning is not well supported. Chapter 5 provides a list of shortcomings and deviations that were identified during the project. Most of the shortcomings are caused by operational variations, or poor planning support and/or processes. A comprehensive vision for a railway system with processes that are suitable for both freight and passenger traffic is given in chapter 6, as well as a scenario where digital automatic planning support is used to cope with one of the deviations identified in chapter 5. Chapter 7 concludes the report and provides directions for future work; ranging from capturing demand data for strategic planning of infrastructure to operational re-planning during disturbances.