Train operation conflict management research status of high-speed railways Chao WEN Received: 16 February 2011 / Accepted: 25 March 2011 /Published online: 8 April 2011 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Abstract The mechanism of train operation conflict based of the definition of train operation conflict for high-speed railways was analized. The conflicts are classified from 3 aspects. A review of research history and the study actuality of train operation conflict management in China and abroad after consulting or reading a lot of literature and research reports. And the analysis shows that the studies on train operation conflict management are carried out mainly relying on railway diagram optimization and dispatching system development in China and abroad. There are few of special and systematic jobs about this problem and there is no conflict management system that is suitable for high-speed railways under the conditions of China. Conflict analysis, conflict resolution, train operation adjustment method and operation plan optimization based on conflict management are the main contents of train operation conflict management for high-speed railways in China. Time-varying, transmissible, separated management and complexity are the important character- istics of conflict management for high-speed railways. Keywords High-speed railway . Train operation conflict . Conflict management . Train dispatching . Railway diagram optimization Introduction The advantages of high-speed, high-density and high-safety and high-punctuality of high-speed railways can contribute to the development of Chinese railway transportation. As the transportation resources are badly needed in China, many J Transp Secur (2011) 4:231–246 DOI 10.1007/s12198-011-0069-0 C. WEN (*) School of Transportation & Logistics, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China e-mail: Wenchao0601@126.com C. WEN Key Laboratory of Comprehensive Transportation of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Sichuan 610031, China