1. Introduction

The restructuring of the rail market has created new relationships between the players in this market. The examination of the relationship between the entities, the infrastructure manager, and the railway undertaking (herewith referred to as the RU) focuses on the assessment of the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity, with a view to knowing traffic technology and track-side technologies including the economic aspects. This complex issue is closely related to the determination of the capacity of the railway infrastructure, which represents the maximum possible offer of train paths for the infrastructure manager to construct the timetable [1–3].

The timetable is the operating plan and also offers train paths to potential customers. Loss of stability and timetable quality may result in the absence of spare capacity, that is, its exhaustion after allocation and after the completion of the timetable for the scheduled period [4].

The main objective of this chapter is to define the processes of managing the capacity of railway infrastructure with the aim of achieving high-quality operative management of traffic due to the efficiency of transport flow on the infrastructure. These objectives fully respect EU transport policy, which provides a framework for creating transparent conditions and minimizing risks in accessing transport infrastructure and ensuring the growing transport needs of the company at the required time and quality. The scientific contribution is proven in the application of theoretical knowledge in the field of railway transport technology in terms of a case study on the corridor's lines.

• graphically-analytically;

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88929

• simulation modeling.

An overview of the most preferred methodologies for capacity estimation is elaborated in the work [13]. The most comprehensive approach is to use simulation tools to evaluate the capacity of a railway infrastructure based on a real-world traffic model. Capacity assessment using simulation modeling methods provides a comprehensive assessment of the capacity characteristics of the transport infrastructure being solved. The result provided is only suboptimal in terms of the general approach depending on the course of the simulation. A problem here is the range of input data required for a simulation model (a detailed description of the infrastructure and dynamic properties of the vehicles), as well as the time data required for the simulation assessment. On the other hand, the new possibilities offered by simulation modeling are a prerequisite for its successful implementation in cases where it is justified. The criterion used here is primarily the stability of the

Railway Infrastructure Capacity in the Open Access Condition: Case Studies on SŽDC…

The capacity assessment is based on the evaluation of the existing timetable. Infrastructure dimensioning, operational performance, and quality of service are interdependent. If two variables are known, the third can be derived. Security requirements, general economic framework conditions, and environmental con-

The following factors influence the capacity of a given infrastructure [11, 14]:

• stability of train traffic (ability to dispose of the initial delay and its nontransfer

• heterogeneity, that is, with the number of different driving times and their

The overview of the preferred methodologies among European Infrastructure managers is elaborated in the work of Kontaxi and Riccci [13]. The resulting average value of the stability coefficient (ratio of the output and input delays of the train on the monitored infrastructure in the simulation run) is the basis for assessing whether the infrastructure under investigation corresponds to the expected traffic

The train path is defined for the purposes of EP and ER 2012/34/EU directive establishing a single European railway area for the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity [15] as "the infrastructure capacity needed to run a train between two places over a given period." The train path is defined by important parameters, such as train type, days of operation, routing, scheduled speed, arrival times, departures

The timetable shows the paths of all regular trains, trains as needed (on days of deployment), and canceled trains (they travel on specified days and their paths

timetable (the ability not to increase or decrease the input delay).

2.1 Relevant data for capacity allocation in the case study

• number of train paths over a specified time interval;

large differences, capacity utilization increases.

times, and transfer times at stations and stops.

straints are given by the external environment.

• average speed;

range.

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to other trains); and

• analytically; or
