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Railway and Public Transport

Public transportation

We develop computational support tools for good planning of railway traffic and public transport. The tools can be used for evaluating systems and making better decisions. 

A good transport system is essential to allow access to workplaces, schools, service establishments and health care institutions and necessary for transportation of goods. Railway and public transport are energy efficient, environmentally friendly, fast, safe and secure. There is a strong will from society to extend and develop these systems.

The research group for railway and public transport is interested in developing models and methods, which describe the traffic and can be used as decision support tools by infrastructure managers and operators.

On a strategic level, we are interested in evaluating the imposed effects of changes in the infrastructure. At a tactical level we study timetables and schedules, and on an operational level how the planning can be adjusted just before or during operation.

Most of the methodological approaches come from the academic field of operations research, where we use optimization, simulation and statistics. An objective is often formulated as to gain time, cost, capacity, energy, stability or robustness.

Our research is often carried out together with stakeholders and funders from industry and society. The research group for railway and public transport is partner of the national research program Capacity in the Railway Traffic System (KAJT) and a national initiative for railway expertise, where we lead area 7 Traffic planning and control, and participate in area 9 Capacity and punctuality. Some of our collaborators are RISE - Research Institutes of Sweden, Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) and Swedish Transport Administration. The group consists of some ten researchers, half of which are doctoral students in the scientific area of infra informatics.

Join us in researching better railways

Researchers at Communications and Transport Systems

Research activities Communication and transport systems (KTS)

Graphic illustration of tele communications

Telecommunications for Smart Cities

Our research focuses on modeling and evaluating the communication and network architectures of such relevant Internet of Things deployments with applications in smart cities.

A pair of hands putting a cell phone on a drone

Radio surveillance for search of missing persons - RASP

Electronic communication equipment is becoming a common and important part in the search for missing persons. This project will demonstrate a drone mounted radio surveillance module as part of a system where drones and search personnel work together

Picture from exercise with fire deparment.

Center for Advanced Research in Emergency Response - CARER

A collaboration between LiU and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency which aims to consolidate and strengthen LiU's research in risk, response and rescue area.

News at communication and transport systems (KTS)

Norrköpings rådhus

17 March 2026

Open-source tool puts Norrköping on the map

The open-source mapping software QGIS has released a new major version; QGIS Desktop 4.0 Norrköping. At LiU Campus Norrköping, GIS and geodata are used in several research fields.

Street in a city with cars.

13 May 2025

Disturbance-free city during construction projects

Having a holistic approach to all construction projects in a city is the most important factor for minimising disturbance. But that is easier said than done. This is shown by researchers from LiU in a new book.

03 October 2024

A dissertation on cost-effective stroke care

The doctoral thesis by Nicklas Ennab Vogel is about making stroke healthcare more efficient. The social costs of stroke diseases are large. Suffering a stroke often has far-reaching consequences for both the individual patient and the next of kin.