Railways

generateRailSignalConstraints.py#

Generate constraints that enforce a given railway schedule. Example:

<SUMO_HOME>/tools/generateRailSignalConstraints.py -r <input-route-file> -n <input-net-file> -a <input-stop-file> -o <output-file>

Generated Constraints#

the following constraints are generated in different cases:

1. <predecessor>#

When two vehicles stop subsequently at the same busStop (trainStop) and they reach that stop via different routes, the switch where both routes merge is identified and a constraint is created for the rail signals that guard this merging switch: The vehicle B that arrives at the stop later, must wait (at its signal Y) for the vehicle A that arrives first (to pass it's respective signal X) This uses the 'arrival' attribute of the vehicle stops

A complication arises if the signal of the first vehicle is passed by other trains which are en route to another stop. This makes it necessary to record a larger number of passing vehicles within the simulation (controlled by the limit attribute). The script attempts to determine the necessary limit value by identifying all vehicles that pass the signal X en route to other stops between the time A and B reach their respective signals (counting backwards from the next stop based on "arrival". To account for delays the options --delay and --limit can be used to override the limit values

2. <insertionPredecessor>#

Whenever a vehicle B departs at a stop (assumed to coincide with the "until" attribute of it's first stop), the prior train A that leaves this stop is identified (also based on "until"). Then a constraint is created that prevents insertion of B until train A has passed the next signal that lies beyond the stop.

3. <predecessor>#

Whenever a vehicle A departs at a stop (assumed to coincide with the "arrival" attribute of it's first stop), the latter train B that enters this stop is identified (also based on "arrival"). Then a constraint is created that prevents B from entering the section with the stop until A has passed the next signal that lies beyond the stop.

Inconsistencies#

Inconsistent constraints may arise from inconsistent input and cause simulation deadlock. To avoid this, the option --abort-unordered can be used to avoid generating constraints that are likely to be inconsistent. When the option is set the ordering of vehicles is cross-checked with regard to arrival and until times:

Given two vehicles A and B which stop at the same location, if A arrives at the stop later than B, but A also leaves earlier than B, then B is "overtaken" by A. The stop of A and all subsequent stops of A are marked as invalid and will not participate in constraint generation.

If two vehicles have a 'parking'-stop with the same 'until' time at the same location, their stops will also be marked as invalid since the simulation cannot enforce an order in this case (and local desired order is ambiguous).

Post-Facto Stop Timings#

When simulating the past (i.e. to predict the future), additional timing data besides the scheduled arrival and until times may be available and included in the 'started' and 'ended' attributes for each stop. They can be used to detect changes in train order that occurred during the actual train operation and which must be taken into account during constraint generation to avoid deadlock. If train A has 'started' information for a stop while train B has not, this implies that A has reached the stop ahead of B. Likewise, both trains may have 'started' information but in the reverse order compared to the schedule. For all stops with complete started,ended information, those times can be used as an updated schedule (replacing arrival and until). However, if an order reversal was detected for a train, no constraints based on the old schedule should be generated anymore (stops are ignored after started,ended information ends)

Further Options#

If constraints shall be modified during the simulation (traci.trafficlight.swapConstraints) it may be useful to add additional constraints which would otherwise be redundant. This can be accomplished by setting option --redundant with a time range. When set, trains that follow a constrained train within the given time range (and which would normally be constrained implicitly by their leading train) will also receive a constraint. In this case option --limit must be used to ensure that all constraint foe vehicles are recorded during the simulation.

scheduleStats.py#

Compare arrival and departure at stops between an input schedule (route-file) and simulation output (stop-output). The results will be printed on the command line.

Example:

<SUMO_HOME>/tools/output/scheduleStats.py -r <input-route-file> -s <stop-file>

Options:

  • --xml-output FILE (-o): write statistics to FILE in xml format
  • --statistic-type (-t): select among statistics to be computed
    • 'd' : depart delay
    • 'a' : arrival delay
    • 's' : stop duration difference
  • --group-by (-g): group results by one or more attributes (vehID,tripId,stopID,priorStop)
  • --group-statistic-type (-T): select among statistics over the group values (i.e. to compare the groups by their mean depart delay). permitted values are mean, median, min, max
  • --histogram FLOAT (-i): add a histogram with the given bin width
  • --group-histogram FLOAT (-I): add a histogram over the group values (when using -g) with the given bin width

Examples:

<SUMO_HOME>/tools/output/scheduleStats.py -r <input-route-file> -s <stop-file> -t d -i 50
<SUMO_HOME>/tools/output/scheduleStats.py -r <input-route-file> -s <stop-file> -t a -g stopID -T median -I 10