Predicting operational constraints in railway station performance based on modeling with petri nets

A new approach to modeling the operations of railway stations and junctions using Petri nets is proposed. This method enables process analysis both analytically and through simulation, considering the topological features, operational technology of the station, and the structure of the transportation flow. The article provides a detailed examination of key properties of Petri nets, such as boundedness, liveness, and reachability, as well as methods for their analysis. These properties are applied to solve practical tasks, including resource optimization, increasing operational efficiency, and ensuring railway station safety. The proposed model identifies bottlenecks, forecasts potential operational difficulties, and develops measures to improve station performance. Various modifications of Petri nets, including timed, stochastic, and colored nets, are discussed. Each type offers distinct advantages for analyzing the temporal, probabilistic, and structural characteristics and parameters of station topology and transportation flow. The paper presents a model of the throat of a railway station’s reception yard for train passage, including its reachability tree of possible states. Analyzing the reachability tree identifies operational constraints and the sequences of events leading to these states. The model also predicts potential operational difficulties and shortages of maneuvering resources by applying an analytical method based on Petri net matrix analysis. This approach enables large systems, such as complex technical railway stations or junctions, to determine individual critical states that could lead to undesirable events without simulating all possible states.