Disruption: A new component in the track inspection schedule

Disruptions can occur during the execution of any schedule or plan. Both minor and major disruptions must be handled properly, because they have the potential to cause deviation from the original schedule's main goals. In rail track inspection schedules, ultrasonic machine breakdown, unavailability of tracks due to extreme weathers and special inspection requests are some of potential disruption factors. Surprisingly, it is difficult to obtain a single publication that has discussed in details about disruption management in track inspection schedule operation, while an opposite trend is seen for railway operations, i.e., crew and rolling stock schedules. This unbalanced situation presents a challenge, because track inspection schedules are also implemented in a real-time setting. Since proper inspection activities are essential to ensure the continuity and safety of train operations, this paper aims to first identify the potential sources of disruption to predetermined track inspection schedules. The findings are then used to formulate an appropriate strategy for dealing with disruption and a method for developing a practical rescheduling operator.