Development and application of Danish Key Performance Indicators for Railway Timetables

Company managers want to be able to measure and evaluate the processes taking place in their companies to evaluate performance levels. This is also the case for the railway sector. Politicians demand a higher efficiency from infrastructure managers (IM) and train operating companies (TOC) by requiring improved products with reduced costs at the same time. Introducing Key Performance Indicators (KPI) can help achieve a higher efficiency. Creation of a feasible and attractive railway timetable is the most important process for both TOC and IM. When measuring the quality of the produced timetables, one also measures the success of the applied timetabling process.

KPI for railway timetables most be based on a common accepted set of timetabling criteria. This paper begins with a brief description of the process that lead to the creation of a common Danish list of prioritized timetabling evaluation and optimization criteria. It included individual interviews and a joined timetabling criteria workshop with the most important stakeholders. See below for the result:

* High prioritization: Consumption of capacity on railway line sections & Systematic timetables are preferable

* Medium prioritization: Robustness of the timetable & Societal acceptance of the timetable

* Low prioritization: Travel time of trains & Attractive train transfer options