About of the Assigning Appearances to Locomotive Crews

There is a shortage of workers involved in train and shunting work, especially in freight transportation in the railway industry. Occupational diseases, Unsatisfactory working and rest regime in some depots are the reasons for leaving the profession of "train driver" and "assistant of train driver".

Purpose. The paper discusses the potential optimization of the current system for assigning turnouts to freight train crews. This optimization could improve the planning of labor resource availability with a longer-term perspective. It is necessary to study the existing functionality of the software that informs employees of locomotive crews which involved in freight traffic in advance and propose potential solutions to increase the depth of forecasting and the quality of the formation of the call sequence.

Methodology. In this paper methods of analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction were used.

Results. The authors propose improving the quality of forecasting for the formation and dispatch of trains and locomotives at freight train-forming stations, in conjunction with the competence of various locomotive crews for assigning operations, in order to enhance working conditions.

Practical implications. This study may be of practical interest to the traction directorates, traffic management and the technical department of JSC Russian Railways, as well as organizations representing the interests of locomotive workers in terms of improving working conditions (locomotive trade unions, Rosprofzhel). Certain aspects of the article could be used as supplementary settings for existing software products which assist in selecting employees for locomotive teams and assigning them to specific locomotives and trains.