ExplAIn-TrAIn-Plan – Explainable AI-based Planning of Production Variants, Circulations and Shifts in Railway Systems
The increasing complexity of railway networks and the diversity of traction unit types pose major challenges for efficient and reliable resource planning. Until now, production variants of locomotives have often been assigned manually, meaning that energy efficiency and robustness cannot be taken into account at this early planning stage. The project ExplAIn-TrAIn-Plan, launched on 01 October 2024 and funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), addresses this issue. Its aim is to identify green and robust production variants and to assess their impact on circulation and shift plans using AI-supported optimization and simulation methods. By combining optimization, simulation and machine learning, the project develops explainable, energy-efficient and reliable planning solutions. The consortium brings together expertise in data analytics, optimization, simulation and railway operations: dwh GmbH (project lead), TU Dresden, University of Vienna, TU Wien, and ÖBB-Produktion GmbH as practice partner.
This project is funded by the FFG. www.ffg.at
Project duration
2025/07/01 - 2027/06/30
Responsable staff
Prof. Dr. Udo Buscher
Dr. Martin Scheffler
Paul Päprer