Timetable Synchronisation for the First Trains in the Day According to Actual Transfer Times

Non-synchronised timetables of the first hour trains can lead to longer waiting times for passengers wishing to transfer at the transfer station. This study aims to reduce the waiting time of passengers by synchronising the timetables of first hour trains using actual transfer times. The transfer times of the passengers are obtained from the observations and are used in this synchronisation study. The genetic and simulated annealing algorithms are implemented to solve the first train synchronisation model. Finally, a case study is conducted on a section of the Istanbul metro network to test the synchronisation model. The results show that the total waiting time of the first hour trains transfer passengers is reduced by 35% by applying the proposed model. Another result of the study shows that using the actual transfer time instead of the average transfer time of the passengers reduces the average waiting time of the passengers by 19%.