SAFETY PROBLEMS AND GLOBAL COMFORT IN RAILWAYS OPERATIONAL MANAGMENT

In the planning process of a railway intervention and in its operational management, it needs to analyse carefully the relations between the different classes of variables constituting the complex system “vehicle-infrastructure-environment” to find the most suitable actions in optimisation the travelling comfort and safety, with respect for the ecosystem compatibilities. The problem can be tackled, in a systematic way, according to set theory and vector analysis, in a hyperspace Âd of d-dimension up to determining a characteristic global comfort vector that can be combined with each alternatives of intervention in the transport network examined. From this point of view, after the proper achievement of the other strategic design objectives has been tested (e.g. financial budget, minimization of the generalized costs of transport), it is suggested to consider the particular solution h by which the modulus of the vector satisfies the relation Chg = max {Cig}. The mathematical approach suggested allows to carry out the aggregate analysis of the classes of variables which describe the railway service quality on the whole to define geometrically the relations which exist between the abovementioned indicators through an appropriate transformation of Âd. The proposed mathematical model can be extended for the total optimisation of the infrastructural interventions on a railway network, so the information system assumes, according to this point of view, the functionalities of a SDSS (Spatial Decision System Support), for the management of a “models base” and a “data base” for the management and processing of safety, exercise and management data.