Proposing a Suitable Signaling System using PROMETHEE Method for Chabahar-Zahedan Railway

Following the fast development of rail transportation industry, great importance and need to study the Intelligent Transportation Systems for Iran railway domain is seen according to Iran’s strategic development plan. Signaling and control used in controlling and managing railway traffic in a safe and efficient manner plays the main role in intelligent rail transportation systems. Considering the high cost of purchasing, installing and maintaining signaling equipment, optimal selection of the systems according to the real requirements of the railway route is an important issue in saving the financial resources of the country and may prevent unnecessary expenditures. In this research work, Entropy Method, as one of the Multi Criteria Decision Making Methods, is used in selecting a suitable signaling and control system for Chabahar-Zahedan Railway route. Ten different signaling systems are indexed and 15 different criteria have been studied for an appropriate selection of the system. PROMETHEE and SAW methods are used for ranking. Finally, S3 system (traditional signaling, section block and automatic train protection) has been proposed as a suitable signaling system for Chabahar-Zahedan Railway.