RailLille 2017

7th International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling & Analysis (RailLille2017), April 4-7, 2017

The 7^th bi-annual International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling & Analysis (ICROMA) was hosted by French institute of science and technology for transport, development and networks (IFSTTAR). The Conference was organized by dr. J. Rodriguez, dr. Paola Pellegrini (both IFSTTAR), prof. I.A. Hansen (Delft University of Technology), prof. N. Tomii (Chiba Institute of Technology), dr. D. De Almeida (SNCF - Research department) and prof. S. Dauzère-Pérèz (École des Mines de Saint-Étienne), on behalf of the International Association of Railway Operations Research (IAROR). The review of Abstracts and full Papers was supported by Board members of IAROR and Scientific Advisory Committee members, consisting of

Abhyuday (Indian Railways),
H. Boysen (KTH Stockholm),
T. Dick (University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign),
R. Goverde (Delft University of Technology),
S. Harrod (Technical University of Denmark),
C. Mannino (SINTEF ITC),
A. Marin (Technical University of Madrid),
L. Nie (Beijing Jiaotong University),
A. Oetting (Technical University of Darmstadt),
D. Pacciarelli (University Roma Tre ),
J. Preston (University of Southampton),
S. Ricci (University of Rome “La Sapienza”),
T. Schlechte (LBW Berlin),
P. Vansteenwegen (University of Gent),
A. Wardrop (TTG Transportation Technology),
T. White (Transit Safety Management).

The first day was reserved for a Short Course on different topics given by 7 invited speakers: prof. S. Ricci (University of Rome “La Sapienza”, dr. J. Harbering (University of Göttingen), dr. S. Harrod (Technical University of Denmark), dr. R.M.P. Goverde (Delft University of Technology), dr. T. Schlechte (Zuse Institute Berlin), dr. J. Törnquist Krasemann (BTH Blekinge Institute of Techniology) and prof. N. Tomii (Chiba Institute of Technology). The Short Course was attended by 70 participants.

The Conference was held on 3 days and comprised

2 keynote speeches on
- "Opening of South Europe Atlantic (SEA) and Brittany Loire (BPL) high-speed lines: opportunities for modelling and optimization" by P. Sablier (Exploitation Manager of Atlantic 2017)
- "A new Infrastructure Manager: challenges and research opportunities" by J.-C. Larrieu (SNCF Réseau Deputy General Manger)
30 track sessions each with 3 or 4 talks,
2 technical visits of the Control Centers of "Lille Flandres" station and of "Paris-Nord/Calais" high –speed line, and the high-speed train maintenance center in Hellemmes.

The 7^th ICROMA RailLille 2017 attracted a total of 212 participants from 21 countries. A total of 160 Abstracts had been submitted originally, 140 papers had been accepted and 103 papers were finally presented.

During the Conference 35 participants applied for membership of the International Association of Railway Operations Research. This means the current membership of IAROR members has reached the number of 403.

The members of IAROR present on the Conference approved during the business meeting the new rules about the election of the Board, President and Vice President of the IAROR, the process to select the Young Railway Research Award, and the process to select the Best Papers, which were proposed by the members of the Board and of the Scientific Advisory Committee.

The IAROR members elected to the Board the following new members:

Dr. Anders Petersen (Linköping University)
Dr. Marcus Bohlin (Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm)
Dr. Lingyun Meng (Beijing Jiaotong University). There were no new candidates for President and Vice President of IAROR. N. Tomii and I.A. Hansen will continue to be President and Vice-President until the next ICROMA 2019.

The IAROR members voted to hold the 8th ICROMA 2019 in the city of Norrköping/Sweden.

The members of the organization committee and of the Scientific Advisory Committee together with the members of the Board of IAROR present on the Conference selected as winners of the Young Researcher Operations Research Award 2017:

1st Nikola Besinovic (Delft University of Technology) for his excellent and innovative paper ‘Resolving instability in railway timetabling problems’ - Prize of € 2500 (sponsored by SNCF).
2nd Norman Weik (RWTH Aachen) for ‘A quasi-birth-and-death process approach for integrated capacity and reliability modelling of railway systems with fallible infrastructure components’
3rd ex-aequo:
- Diego Arenas (IFSTTAR/Railenium) for ‘Timetable optimization during railway infrastructure maintenance'
- Yuan Gao (Beijing Jiaotong University) for ‘Scheduling additional trains on a high-speed rail corridor’

The Board of IAROR and the local organization committee of the 8th ICROMA will investigate the possibility to organize a call for the submission and review of a second stream of abstracts only and talks dedicated to railway professionals working in the railway industry in order to attract more participants from railway practice. It is aimed to select on top of the Young Railway Operations Research Award a separate Award for high quality abstracts and presentations from the railway industry including a sponsored prize.

Welcome address by Dr. Frédéric Bourquin, Director of ISSTTAR

Opening by Prof. Norio Tomii, President of IAROR

Plenary meeting RailLille 2017

Nikola Besinovic (centre) winner of the Young Railway Operations Researcher Award 2017, Joaquin Rodriguez IFSTTAR (left) and Norio Tomii IAROR President (right)