PRAGMATIC APPROACH IN REGIONAL RAIL TRANSPORT PLANNING

In the field of transport planning in the Czech Republic, there is increasing need not only for infrastructure planning, but also for public transport planning and creating operational concepts. Public transport, as well as investments and operationally intensive industries, requires a guaranteed longterm strategy in the field of transport services. The first prerequisite for successful transport planning is the most accurate description of passenger flows, including the parameters affecting the choice of transport mode. These inputs constitute an important basis for the following steps: setting up the line network, timetable design, managing the circulation of vehicles and courses of staff, controlling, and any eventual requests for infrastructure improvements. There are currently, in the Czech Republic, few transport models that provide relevant outputs for transport planning tasks in public services. For this reason, we use a variety of heuristics, one of which is described via a practical example, i.e., the transformation of a timetable concept on a selected rail network, including the effects resulting from a change in the number of passengers.