Patent ID: 8433461

Claim:
A method comprising: generating a first movement plan for two or more actual rail vehicles, the first movement plan including a first set of schedules for the respective actual rail vehicles to travel according to within a network of tracks; calculating a first efficiency measurement of the first movement plan using one or more processors, the first efficiency measurement based on simulated concurrent movements of the actual rail vehicles according to the first set of schedules of the first movement plan; generating a different, second movement plan for the actual rail vehicles and at least one virtual rail vehicle, the second movement plan including a second set of schedules for the actual rail vehicles and the at least one virtual rail vehicle to concurrently travel according to within the network of tracks; calculating a second efficiency measurement of the second movement plan using the one or more processors, the second efficiency measurement based on simulated concurrent movements of the actual rail vehicles and the at least one virtual rail vehicle according to the second set of schedules of the second movement plan; and selecting the first movement plan or the second movement plan for implementation in scheduling actual movements of the actual rail vehicles within the network of tracks based on a comparison of the first and second efficiency measurements.