APPLICATIONS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH IN RAILWAY AND METRO SYSTEMS: A CRITICAL REVIEW
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B.Sc. Finance/Anil Surendra Modi School of commerce/SVKM’s NMIMS, Mumbai, India.
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Abstract
Railway scheduling covers more than one type of problem. For a construction project, the main concern may be how long the project will take. During railway operations, the problem can be quite different, such as deciding how train movements should be changed after a delay. This paper reviews five studies covering Nagpur Metro, Mumbai Metro Line 3, Beijing Subway Line 4, Jakarta Central Railway Station, and Indonesia’s Double-Double Track Package A. The studies are compared in terms of their problem, objective, network structure, uncertainty, constraints, method, validation, and results. The comparison shows that CPM, PERT, crashing, Monte Carlo simulation, and real-time train rescheduling are being used for different purposes. Jakarta and Package A use probabilistic methods to estimate project completion. Mumbai reports Monte Carlo analysis, but does not provide enough information to reproduce the simulation. Beijing focuses on energy use and delay during train operations. The Nagpur study is more difficult to assess because only its abstract and publisher information could be accessed, and the publisher has duplicate records with different bibliographic details. For this reason, the review sticks to what can actually be supported by the available evidence. It also separates a model’s forecast confidence from its actual demonstrated accuracy, which would need things such as back-testing and clearer information about the assumptions.
Keywords
Operations Research; CPM; PERT; Monte Carlo simulation; railway scheduling; train rescheduling
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PUBLICATION DETAILS
Review Type:
Double-Blind Peer Review
License:
CC BY-NC 4.0
Volume/Issue:
Volume 02, Issue 10
Review Rounds:
2
Article Type:
Research Article
Publication Date:
Oct 08 2026
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Khandelwal, A., Neeraj, A., Phophaliya, A., Shekhar, A. & Ghiya, A. (2026). Applications of Operations Research in Railway and Metro Systems: A Critical Review. International Journal of Science, Strategic Management and Technology, 02(10), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.55041/ijsmt.v2i10.022
Khandelwal, Aarav, et al.. "Applications of Operations Research in Railway and Metro Systems: A Critical Review." International Journal of Science, Strategic Management and Technology, vol. 02, no. 10, 2026, pp. 1-9. doi:https://doi.org/10.55041/ijsmt.v2i10.022.
Khandelwal, Aarav,Aanya Neeraj,Aaryan Phophaliya,Aarush Shekhar, and Aashi Ghiya. "Applications of Operations Research in Railway and Metro Systems: A Critical Review." International Journal of Science, Strategic Management and Technology 02, no. 10 (2026): 1-9. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.55041/ijsmt.v2i10.022.
References
[1] S. S. Uparkar et al., “Analysis of Nagpur Metro Rail Project using CPM, PERT and Crashing,” International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, 2020. The publisher lists duplicate records (vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 3507–3515, submission 23038; vol. 29, no. 08, pp. 4055–4064, submission 26221); no DOI is shown. [Online]. Available: https://sersc.org/journals/index.php/IJAST/article/view/23038 and https://sersc.org/journals/index.php/IJAST/article/view/26221.
[2] A. Lowe, K. Nagarajan, and R. Narwade, ‘Estimation of Rate and Time Delay for underground Mumbai Metro Corridor by using Monte Carlo Simulation,’ International Journal of Management and Humanities, vol. 4, no. 10, pp. 68–77, 2020, doi: 10.35940/ijmh.J0965.0641020.
[3] H. Huang, K. Li, and P. Schonfeld, ‘Real-time energy-saving metro train rescheduling with primary delay identification,’ PLOS ONE, vol. 13, no. 2, Art. no. e0192792, 2018, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192792.
[4] M. Ichsan, W. Isvara, and S. Karim, ‘Monte Carlo Simulation for Enhancing the Schedule Completion Forecast of Jakarta Central Railway Station Construction Project,’ Applied Sciences, vol. 15, no. 13, Art. no. 7464, 2025, doi: 10.3390/app15137464.
[5] L. S. Riantini, M. Ichsan, B. Trigunarsyah, A. D. Rarasati, N. H. Handika, and C. A. Lolo, ‘Optimization of completion schedule forecasting in case study of double-double track development project (Package A) using the probabilistic pert method,’ Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, vol. 8, no. 9, Art. no. 7798, 2024, doi: 10.24294/jipd.v8i9.7798.
[6] U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO Schedule Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Project Schedules, GAO-16-89G, Dec. 22, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-16-89g
[7] D. G. Malcolm, J. H. Roseboom, C. E. Clark, and W. Fazar, ‘Application of a technique for research and development program evaluation,’ Operations Research, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 646–669, 1959, doi: 10.1287/opre.7.5.646.
[8] J. E. Kelley, Jr., and M. R. Walker, ‘Critical-path planning and scheduling,’ in IRE-AIEE-ACM ’59 (Eastern): Papers presented at the December 1–3, 1959, Eastern Joint IRE-AIEE-ACM Computer Conference, pp. 160–173, 1959, doi: 10.1145/1460299.1460318.
[9] V. Kelly, ‘Crash with confidence,’ paper presented at PMI Global Congress 2011—EMEA, Dublin, Ireland, 2011. [Online]. Available: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/generating-crash-analysis-calculating-costs-6224
[2] A. Lowe, K. Nagarajan, and R. Narwade, ‘Estimation of Rate and Time Delay for underground Mumbai Metro Corridor by using Monte Carlo Simulation,’ International Journal of Management and Humanities, vol. 4, no. 10, pp. 68–77, 2020, doi: 10.35940/ijmh.J0965.0641020.
[3] H. Huang, K. Li, and P. Schonfeld, ‘Real-time energy-saving metro train rescheduling with primary delay identification,’ PLOS ONE, vol. 13, no. 2, Art. no. e0192792, 2018, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192792.
[4] M. Ichsan, W. Isvara, and S. Karim, ‘Monte Carlo Simulation for Enhancing the Schedule Completion Forecast of Jakarta Central Railway Station Construction Project,’ Applied Sciences, vol. 15, no. 13, Art. no. 7464, 2025, doi: 10.3390/app15137464.
[5] L. S. Riantini, M. Ichsan, B. Trigunarsyah, A. D. Rarasati, N. H. Handika, and C. A. Lolo, ‘Optimization of completion schedule forecasting in case study of double-double track development project (Package A) using the probabilistic pert method,’ Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, vol. 8, no. 9, Art. no. 7798, 2024, doi: 10.24294/jipd.v8i9.7798.
[6] U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO Schedule Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Project Schedules, GAO-16-89G, Dec. 22, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-16-89g
[7] D. G. Malcolm, J. H. Roseboom, C. E. Clark, and W. Fazar, ‘Application of a technique for research and development program evaluation,’ Operations Research, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 646–669, 1959, doi: 10.1287/opre.7.5.646.
[8] J. E. Kelley, Jr., and M. R. Walker, ‘Critical-path planning and scheduling,’ in IRE-AIEE-ACM ’59 (Eastern): Papers presented at the December 1–3, 1959, Eastern Joint IRE-AIEE-ACM Computer Conference, pp. 160–173, 1959, doi: 10.1145/1460299.1460318.
[9] V. Kelly, ‘Crash with confidence,’ paper presented at PMI Global Congress 2011—EMEA, Dublin, Ireland, 2011. [Online]. Available: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/generating-crash-analysis-calculating-costs-6224
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