The requirements for operations and rostering planning differ depending on the planning stage. At the strategic planning level it is necessary simply to know how many train compositions will be needed to provide service and to add a percentage for maintenance and reserves. In contrast, at the medium and short term planning levels, it is necessary to integrate vehicle performance and maintenance requirements into the planning process, to estimate the operating parameters in more detail.

Viriato’s Rostering module supports timetable planners over the entire range of planning from strategic long-term studies to detailed short-term studies and allows users to gradually refine studies from the strategic to detailed level using the same database. Furthermore, since vehicle operation is the key cost factor for railways, train operators can estimate costs using the detailed vehicle rostering plans developed with Viriato.

Functionality

• Edit block representations of trains on individual day runs;
• Allocate planned and un-planned trips using drag-and-drop;
• Search for subsequent trips;
• Use a context menu;
• Navigate using a function tree;
• Define empty and piggy-back trips (duration and distance);
• Set detailed operational data such as station- and vehicle-specific turnaround times, and times for reversing trains;
• Use extensive test functions to identify geographical breaks, check train turnaround times or maintenance tasks, and evaluate number of compositions or empty running against optimization criteria.