Scheduling under uncertainty: Attaining flexibility, robustness and stability

The research presented in this thesis is part of the Rolling Stock Life Cycle Logistics applied research and development program, conducted by NedTrain. As a company, NedTrain belongs to Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; the principal railway company in the Netherlands) and provides maintenance services for the NS train-fleet. The aim of this program is to enhance NedTrain’s competitiveness as a rolling-stock maintenance services provider. Our work focuses on the operational aspects of this R&D program, motivated by the challenge of scheduling tasks (or operations) in a NedTrain maintenance workshop, such that trains are delivered on-time for circulation in the rail network. Most tasks in the workshop have uncertain durations (or processing times), which complicates the scheduling process.