Review of real-time vehicle schedule recovery methods in transportation services

This paper presents a comprehensive review on methods for real-time schedule recovery in transportation services. The survey concentrates on published research on recovery of planned schedules in the occurrence of one or several severe disruptions such as vehicle breakdowns, accidents, and delays. Only vehicle assignment and rescheduling are reviewed; crew scheduling and passenger logistics problems during disruptions are not. Real-time vehicle schedule recovery problems (RTVSRP) are classified into three classes: vehicle rescheduling, for road-based services, train-based rescheduling, and airline schedule recovery problems. For each class, a classification of the models is presented based on problem formulations and solution strategies. The paper concludes that RTVSRP is a challenging problem that requires quick and good quality solutions to very difficult and complex situations, involving several different contexts, restrictions, and objectives. The paper also identifies research gaps to be investigated in the future, stimulating research in this area.