essay

All trains need to run to a timetable so that passengers may find the train they want to use easily and conveniently. When the line is opened a timetable must be produced.

The government have stated that they require three trains per hour to run between London and Birmingham and also three per hour to run between Birmingham and London. The government have stated that

• the journey time will be 49 minutes,

• it takes 6 minutes to empty the train,

• it takes 12 minutes to clean and prepare the train,

• it takes 19 minutes to perform ticket checks and let passengers board the train.

  Train services start at 07:01 in London and finish at about 22:00. Train services start at 07:00 in Birmingham and finish at about 22:00.

  Task

1. a)  Using this information, create a train timetable for a single day for Birmingham station and another for London station. Your timetable will show the times each train departs and arrives as well as the times the train is emptied, cleaned, ready to be boarded, etc. Each train that arrives or departs must be shown and care must be taken to show that your timetable actually works, ideally by labelling each train with a number. The timetables can be produced in Excel, but any supporting mathematics you wish to submit must be hand written.

2. b)  Your timetable has been created by making decisions. These decisions are important. You need to write a maximum of 500 words detailing what decisions you have made and what your thoughts where when you created the timetable. Your sentences must clearly show how you arrived at your solution. Marks are awarded for reference to your own research as well as your own thoughts on the subject. Your sentences must be typed.