Research Laboratory of
Intelligent Computations in Rail Transportation (ICRT)

Laboratory Manager: Dr. Masoud Yaghini

Laboratory Coordinator: Hassan Gholami Mazinan

Website: http://yaghini.iust.ac.ir/icrt

1. Introduction
 

Transportation is the most effective factor in the development of every country, and rail transportation is the cheapest and safest mode of transportation. Keeping this in mind, existence of research laboratories in different branches of rail transportation, particularly the use of intelligent computing methods in planning and solving railway management problems is imperative.

School of Railway Engineering (SRE), Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), as the only rail academic center in the region, has recognized the importance of this point and established the Research Laboratory of Intelligent Computations in Rail Transportation (ICRT).

This research laboratory supports students, researchers and engineers in their practical and theoretical rail transportation research.

2. Research objectives and functions

The main research objectives and functions of ICRT are:

·        Recognition of problems and needs of the rail industry.

·        Definition and implementation of practical research projects to meet the requirements of the rail industry.

·        Knowledge creation and publication of scientific papers in reputable journals and international conferences.

·        Publishing scientific books and research reports.

·        Defining of thesis subjects to solve rail industry problems.

3. Educational objectives and functions

 Educational objective of the laboratory is offering short courses and workshops for research and industrial centers. These courses include:

Considering the multi-purpose equipments being available, this laboratory can support a variety of educational activities in the railway transportation engineering   program. Some of the related courses include:

4. Research Works

 The main research works of this laboratory are:

1)                Optimization problems in railway planning:

·        Car blocking

·        Train make up

·        Train timetabling

·        Rail crew scheduling

·        Locomotive assignment

·        Empty car distribution

2)                Developing models to calculate and analyze the capacity of railway tracks:

·        Line capacity analysis

·        Classification yard capacity analysis

·        Fleet capacity analysis

·        Capacity analysis of receiving and departure lines

·        Capacity analysis of passenger and freight transport

3)                Data mining projects in order to analyze railway data:

·        Transportation railway systems

·        Commercial and marketing systems such as ticket and bill of loading systems

·        Accident analysis and safety systems

·        Fleet and rail tracks maintenance systems

4)                Other activities:

·        Developing multiple criteria decision making models

·        Reliability study

·        Developing computer applications

·        Passenger and freight demand estimation and analysis

5. Existing software in the laboratory

 Full version software available in the laboratory: