Overview
The Transit Network Design Problem
Planning and design of transit rail line system aspect consists of two intertwined parts: The determination of the position of station and the transit rail line alignment that linking the stations. Due to the huge construction costs of rail-based transit systems, it is important to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed system. The development of a transit rail line system is a challenging task as the problem requires consideration of numerous factors such as demand, expected future ridership, land use characteristics, land acquisition, construction cost, user and operation cost.
Traditional techniques for planning and design of transit rail line system might not always produce a good solution due to the very large number of possible alternative solutions. However various analytical models have been developed to allow consideration of a high number of alternative solutions and make trade-offs between factors. They primarily address either alignment or station location optimization, resulting in limited practical applicability of these models. Therefore this research will consider optimizing transit rail line alignment location and the position of stations in one model, while considering many factors, constraints, and costs applicable to transit rail line systems.