Train headway estimation for maglev with blocking time theory.

As the commercialization of maglev trains continues to accelerate, effective improvement of maglev train operation has become a topic for researchers. The train headway of the maglev is the preparation basis for the train timetable and is also an essential factor affecting the line capacity utilization. This paper proposed an approach to estimate the train headway by considering the characteristics of partitioned control of maglev operations. First, we build the tracking model for maglev with the theory of blocking time, in which the train speed profile is the key input source. Then, a customized method is proposed to estimate the minimum headway of maglev trains. According to the experiment, we can effectively obtain the minimum train headway by the approach, and the result of improving the maglev line capacity utilization is verified.