Comprehensive evaluation of passenger train service plan based on complex network theory

Train service plans evaluation remains a longstanding challenge in railway operation. The train service plan evaluation problem based on complex network theory is investigated in this paper. The train service plan is transferred into a train service network, which is a complex network with the typical characteristics of small-world and degree free. Three key indices of a complex network are listed and we relate them with the train service plan. Based on the three indices, we define the convenience degree for traveling, the transferring times, the travel time, and station clustering coefficients to evaluate the train service plan. A computing case is performed to illustrate the applications of the evaluation model and the algorithm. The results show that the evaluating results can be attained via the method proposed effectively, which can offer supporting information for decision makers of the railway operation bureaus. It proposes a novel, practical and valuable tool to evaluate the train service plan.