Organization of passenger rail transportation on the section with the combined track Nyzhankovychi- Starzhava
Authors:   Lviv Polytechnic National University, Gera Bohdan , Hermaniuk Yuliia ,   Lviv Polytechnic National University, Matviiv Vasyl ,   JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia”
Published: June 2023

Passenger transportation by rail is an important component of ensuring cross-border cooperation between our country and neighboring EU countries. Transport transformations are being carried out on both sides of the border, and directives are being developed and implemented to establish uniform rules and standards for the successful operation of transport and passenger movement. At the same time, the organization of traffic is being improved, taking into account the features of the infrastructure, as well as changes in traffic flows, in particular passenger flows at border areas. An important difference between the railway system of our country and neighboring EU countries is different tracks. The width of the track on our side of the border is mainly 1520 mm and 1435 mm in EU countries. This leads to a number of related features of rail transport. In addition, there are different approaches to traffic regulation. Therefore, it is essential to develop approaches for managing through transportation, in particular, on test sections of the railway track. This work is aimed at solving the current problem of organizing passenger transportation in areas adjacent to the Khyriv station. Both the 1,520 mm track and the combined 1,520/1,435 mm track are used on the site, which allows organising traffic with cars designed for the appropriate track width. A mathematical model of the movement of passengers using trains on different tracks is built - a combined track between two stations on the border with Poland (Nyzhankovychi-Starzhava) and a track with a width of 1520 mm (Sambir-Khyriv), taking into account the topology of the station with conditional distances and stations as the vertices of the corresponding graph. In view of the peculiarities of the stations, possible routes are considered for choosing a train formation scheme, namely, routes between stations of train formation and rotation. As a result, schedules for following passenger trains on border sections were constructed and studied, which allows for determining a rational scheme of train movement and their maintenance at stations. As an example, calculations were made for the Nizhankovychi-Starzhava section. It was found that in order to ensure the given passenger flow and organization of traffic on this section and adjacent tracks, it is necessary to introduce at least three passenger trains. The developed methodology can be used also for other border areas between the stations of Poland and Ukraine. The implementation of the proposed international route State Border – Nyzhankovychі – Khyriv – Starzhava – State Border along the 1435 mm track will allow our Polish neighbors to unite their two provinces with the help of their rolling stock passing through our territory, as well as to reduce the mileage of rolling stock and the distance between the two large cities of Poland. We, in turn, benefit from providing transport services and opening new international passenger routes, with further implementation of freight transport routes on the same sections of tracks.