QUINTIQ

All these issues must be dealt with within a rigid timeframe, with short reaction times because of escalating network utilisation and an increased number of service providers. Overcoming these operational challenges requires highly accurate and flexible planning and scheduling. Such intelligent planning makes it possible to move from stress-laden reactive planning to confident, proactive planning – turning the complexity into a competitive edge.

Quintiq software provides the solution to the passenger rail planning puzzle, enabling your planning department to optimise timetables and the utilisation of all rolling stock and crew. Quintiq gives your planners a full overview of timetabling requirements, crew and rolling stock constraints and availability, and planned maintenance activities.

You are able to handle strategic, tactical, and operational planning and disruption management throughout the organisation using one integrated platform. You define your service-delivery, employee-satisfaction and customer-satisfaction targets; Quintiq gives your planners the support and insights they need to plan according to those targets.

Create better plans faster with Quintiq

• Incorporate employee preferences into rosters to increase employee satisfaction and retention
• Create demand-driven timetables that balance customer satisfaction and efficiency
• Balance assignments to reduce the number of empty trains and ensure crews end shifts at their home depots
• Create plans that incorporate drivers’ skills, route knowledge, home base and personal preferences
• Optimise your crew and unit diagrams in order to maximise the utilisation of personnel and rolling stock
• Disruption management: handle real-time disturbances with confidence
• Decision support: receive valuable data on the utilisation and current status of every resource to support accurate decision making
• User configuration: meet the different planning needs of multiple planners with customisable interfaces
• KPI analysis: gain insight into the effects planning has on business goals with KPI analysis
• Scenario planning: explore the potential profitability of investing in new routes and units, as well as the impact of new regulations, changing demographics and more
• Maintenance optimisation: optimise maintenance schedules to minimise the disruptions on your timetable

Competition, liberalisation and new environmental legislation are already presenting new challenges to rail freight operators. In addition, increasing customer demands are forcing all market players to make a bold tactical decision: whether to focus on operating fixed, highly efficient services or to become flexible, multi-modal, door-to-door operators. Both strategies involve numerous aspects that need to be considered, and many planning issues that must be handled.

These include:

• Train planning
• Locomotive and wagon planning
• Yard planning
• Crew planning
• Ground staff planning

Rail freight planning

In order to create plans that support your business goals, planners must have an overview of all available and utilised assets, resource capabilities and constraints. This requires Quintiq rail freight planning software, which offers full end-to-end visibility and reflects the unique constraints, key performance indicators (KPIs) and characteristics of your organisation. You will benefit from more reliable plans and more efficient use of your resources when you plan and optimise your locomotives, employees and yards with Quintiq.

• Synchronise all resources and processes throughout the planning cycle from long-term planning to execution in one integrated platform
• Receive valuable data on the utilisation and current status of every resource to support accurate decision making
• Align plans with your organisation’s key performance indicators for efficiency and effectiveness
• Explore possible network configurations and business scenarios with speed and ease to make the right decisions for the future of your organisation
• Create constraint-free plans and schedules, rely on automatic checks to ensure that no constraints are violated, know in an instant the impact of planning decisions and unexpected events
• Optimise the utilisation of your network to satisfy multiple operators with varying schedules and needs
• Get real-time insights and planning suggestions in order to respond effectively to disruptions

Overcome complexity in public transport planning

As a public transport provider, you must balance conflicting demands. Your passengers and local authorities expect your services to be safe, reliable and affordable. Your stakeholders demand efficiency and therefore profitability. Your employees expect you to comply with labor regulations and respect their personal needs and preferences. Several of these factors determine your ability to win and retain concessions.

Inevitable delays and disruptions add to the complexity. As do seasonally-fluctuating passenger numbers. Quintiq software enables your planning department to optimise timetables and the utilisation of all resources. You are able to handle strategic, tactical, and operational planning throughout the organisation using one integrated platform. You define your service-delivery, employee-satisfaction and customer-satisfaction targets, Quintiq gives you the support and insights you need to plan according to those targets.

• Create demand-driven timetables that balance customer satisfaction and efficiency
• Incorporate employee preferences to increase employee satisfaction and retention
• Optimise the utilisation of every resource
• Create plans that incorporate your crew’s skills, route knowledge, home base and personal preferences
• Handle real-time disturbances with ease
• Real-time data
• Receive valuable data on the utilisation and current status of every resource to support accurate decision making

Infrastructure management

An infrastructure manager’s main responsibilities are possession management, capacity allocation, traffic control and all its complex challenges – workforce optimisation. New railway infrastructure does not come about overnight, and that is why we have all taken a long-term focus on the needs of future travellers in planning improvements.

Quintiq offers:

• Integrated planning – in one system the entire range from long-term to day-of operations in a single platform
• Excels at using data intelligently to create optimal plans and what-if scenarios
• Looks into the future for all planning horizons
• Short term customer allocation – customer allocation is in a continuous optimisation process

On a longer horizon Quintiq can determine optimal project maintenance planning and path allocation for customers:

• Uses up-to-the-minute information to propose best alternative plan
• Highlights the consequences of a change or disruption to both give planner additional time and options to react
• Sends updated plans to planners, equipment and operators to allow for optimisation across operations including the railway companies operations