The real-time railway traffic management problem consists of selecting appropriate train routes and schedules for minimizing the propagation of delay in case of traffic perturbation. In this paper, we tackle this problem by introducing RECIFE-MILP, a heuristic algorithm based on a mixed-integer linear programming model. RECIFE-MILP uses a model that extends one we previously proposed by including additional elements characterizing railway reality. In addition, it implements performance boosting methods selected among several ones through an algorithm configuration tool. We present a thorough experimental analysis that shows that the performances of RECIFE-MILP are better than the ones of the currently implemented traffic management strategy. RECIFE-MILP often finds the optimal solution to instances within the short computation time available in real-time applications. Moreover, RECIFE-MILP is robust to its configuration if an appropriate selection of the combination of boosting methods is performed.

The Vehicle routing problem with time windows is frequently found in literature, while multiple time windows are not often considered. In this paper a mathematical formulation of the vehicle routing problem with multiple time windows is presented, taking into account periodic constraints. An algorithm based on Ant Colony System is proposed and implemented. Computational results related to a purpose-built benchmark are finally reported.