Designing railway terminals using simulation techniques

Railway service terminals are the places of a railway network usually equipped with costly technology based on highly complicated technological procedures demanding a high degree of coordination and control skills. Design of these systems and the organization of their operation should facilitate reaching to the required capacity together with high quality of service processes as well as minimal costs of resources. Due to the complexity of such systems, a simulation model seems to be the only suitable tool for performing investigations under realistic conditions. The paper focuses on the possible utilization of simulation methods to support the design and optimisation of infrastructure, operation, and process control algorithms in railway terminals. The paper also deals with the most important properties and possibilities offered by the simulation tool Villon and comments on the experience gained during its utilization. The tool supports tactical (mid term) and strategic (long term) planning usually related to infrastructural or operational proposals which are supposed to guarantee the optimal (or at least effective) behaviour of the modelled terminal.