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Integrated periodic timetable. Theory, application cases, advantages, disadvantages, and reflections on its possible application in Spain

26/03/2010

Author/s: Riccardo Lombardi

The integrated periodic timetable (IPT) is a specific type of railway timetable for passenger services that has been progressively implemented in the last few decades in countries such as Holland, Germany, and Switzerland. It is periodic because services are guaranteed at constant intervals (every half hour, hour, two hours, etc.), and integrated because the timetables are structured as to efficiently utilize connections between services and minimize passenger waiting time. The article’s purpose is to fill the gap in Spanish technical literature, which provides very few references on this subject, through the analysis of different themes: the theoretical basics of the design of the integrated periodic timetable, a summary of its advantges and disadvantages, two cases of application in Europe, and the analysis of various aspects of the Spanish rail system with a view to possibly introducing the IPT in our country.


Keywords: IPT, periodic timetable, integrated periodic timetable, symmetric timetable, timetable scheduling, public transport, Switzerland, railways, junctions, nodes.

Publication: Vía Libre Railway Research Nº 1 - March 2011, pp. 59-85

 

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