An agent-based simulation model for the growth of the Sydney Trains network

Agent-based models are computational methods for simulating the actions and reactions of autonomous entities with the ability to capture their effects on a system through interaction rules. This study develops an agent-based simulation model (RANGE) to replicate the growth of Sydney Trains network by given exogenous historical evolution in land use. A set of locational rules has been defined to find a sequence of optimal stations from an initial seed. The model framework is an iterative process that includes five consecutive components including environment loading, measuring access, locating stations, connecting stations, and evaluating connections. In each iteration, following the locating/connecting process in each line of railways network, the accessibility will be calculated, and land use will be updated. Based on the compilation of network topology and properties, each iteration will be a year-on-year time step analysis. The network evolves based on a set of locational rules in regards to changes in the historic land use. Also, two coverage indices are defined to evaluate the fitness of the simulated lines in comparison to the Sydney tram and train network.