A web-based distributed group decision support system for railway construction organization

Railway construction organization is a crucial part of modern railway operation system and the decision-making of construction plan is a complex and difficult problem. Compounding with computer science, information technology and group decision support system theory, a web-based distributed group support system, called Railway Construction plan Decision Support System (RCDSS) is designed and developed. The key issues of RCDSS are discussed including the system solution and the main framework, the data support service platform, the model base, the knowledge base and the inference engine. Based on computer-aided compiling of construction plan, RCDSS provides train schedule influence analysis, railway technical operation influence analysis, railway macro-network operation influence analysis and multi-criteria comprehensive evaluation for further decision support. RCDSS has been implemented in Shenyang Railway Administration in China in a Web-based environment and is accessible by authorized decision makers without geographical constraints. The result demonstrates the system enable better performance in railway construction decision.