Patent ID: 7937193

Claim:
A railway scheduling system for scheduling the movement of trains through a rail network having line of road track and yard tracks comprising a movement planner for a rail yard for scheduling the movement of cars through the yard, each car having an incremental cost associated with it, the yard movement planner optimizing the total costs of the movement of the cars through the yard, wherein the yard movement planner provides a schedule for individual cars of a specific train to perform specific tasks at specific locations in the rail yard and evaluates the specific locations to determine availability of the specific location; and an interface for communicating information about determined availability at a specific location in the yard for the specific train to a line of road movement planner to optimize the total costs of the movement of the trains through the rail network; wherein the movement planner for the line of road is configured for scheduling trains over the line of road, each train having an incremental cost associated with it, the line of road movement planner optimizing the total cost of the movement of the trains over the line of road, wherein the line of road movement planner schedules the movement of the specific train as a function of the determined availability at a specific location in the yard.