The International Association of Railway Operations Research was founded on 8 June 2005 during the 1st International Seminar on Railway Operations Modeling and Analysis at Delft University of Technology and decided on the following mission statement:
IAROR combines the expertise of academic and professional railway research with the aim of:
- Enhancing the quality of service for railway passengers and customers
- Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of capacity management, timetabling, traffic management and
- Ensuring the safety of railway operations.
The revolutionary process of wide spread integration of artificial intelligence, computer science and telecommunications in the design of timetables, train detection and integrity, dispatching, signalling, interlocking, train control, traffic regulation, and ultimately automatic train operation creates great opportunities for increasing the capacity of railway infrastructure, optimising the use of rolling stock and making passenger and freight transport by rail more competitive.
IAROR stimulates innovative theoretical approaches, high-tech concepts, new technological developments and dynamic decision support systems that contribute to a higher flexibility, performance and punctuality of trains operating in heterogeneous networks (lines and junctions). IAROR contributes to the development of new international standards for railway capacity and traffic management by integration of the state-of-the-art from different scientific disciplines as engineering, mathematics, physics, economics and computer science.
IAROR is a Network of Excellence in the field of railway operations research and aims to be an acknowledged advisor to governments, railway infrastructure managers, train operating companies and the industrial suppliers with regard to the development and evaluation of research programs, innovation strategies, directives and norms for railway operations.
International transfer of knowledge and co-operation is strengthened by organising the biennial International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis (ICROMA).