Patent ID: 6873962

Claim:
A method for scheduling the movement of a plurality of trains operating on a rail corridor, wherein trains traversing the rail corridor may intersect on the same track, whereby each train has at least one travel parameter that can be varied, whereby the rail corridor includes at least one main line and a plurality of secondary tracks onto which a train may be moved to avoid an intersection with another train, said method comprising the steps of: (a) deriving a localizer function to represent the rail corridor, wherein said localizer function has a value in a first range between secondary tracks and has a value in a second range in the vicinity of each secondary track; (b) selecting a value for at least one travel parameter for each of the plurality of trains set to travel on the rail corridor in accordance with a schedule; (c) finding the intersection points for the plurality of trains; (d) determining the value of said localizer function for each one of the intersection points; (e) determining a cost function value in response to the said value of said localizer functions, wherein the cost function value indicates whether the trains intersect at or near a junction between the main line and one of the plurality of secondary tracks; (f) revising the schedule such that the cost function value indicates that train intersections occur at or near the junction between a main line and one of the plurality of secondary tracks; and (g) providing the schedule to at least one of the plurality of trains for directing its movement along the rail corridor; and (h) wherein the steps (a) through (f) are executed by a computing device.