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PhD Position on Integrated Planning of Railway Rolling Stock Circulations and Maintenance

Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)

Delft, Netherlands

EUR 2,500-3k / month

Posted on Nov 14, 2025

Challenge: Cost-effective passenger railways

Change: Integrating planning of rolling stock circulations and rolling stock maintenance

Impact: Improved railway logistics

Job description

Passenger railway transport plays an essential role in sustainable mobility. It is based on dedicated railway infrastructure, rolling stock and personnel that need to be aligned by efficient planning and replanning to optimize the allocation of the resources and maintain reliable operations in face of disturbances and disruptions. Rolling stock (or railway vehicles) also needs regular maintenance at service locations including inspections, cleaning, and repairs. Incidents during operations such as broken toilets or failing doors may also trigger changes to the plans to prioritize maintenance to these specific train units. The interaction between rolling stock circulations and regular maintenance, including the uncertainties involved, leads to complex logistics problems.

The planning of rolling stock circulations and the regular maintenance at the various service locations is typically done by different planners. In addition, shunting train units between the station platforms and the service locations further complicates the operations (re)planning and involves yet other planners and (shunting) personnel. While regular rolling stock maintenance used to be executed largely in the evening or at night such that all rolling stock is available during the day, saturating capacity at service locations and attractive working hours for personnel require alternative solutions, such as moving rolling stock maintenance to daytime on days or periods with less transport demand.

The objective of this PhD project is to develop and demonstrate a methodology for integrated planning of railway rolling stock circulations, regular maintenance and train unit shunting. The integrated planning offers opportunities such as reduced rolling stock with equal seat availability, more attractive working hours at service locations, and decreased train unit movements for regular maintenance. New innovative approaches need to be developed to schedule rolling stock to timetables and service locations while considering requirements of various personnel and special requests during operations based on specific train unit conditions. This requires multiple-criteria decision-making methods to find effective and efficient integrated planning solutions based on existing tools at Netherlands Railways and newly developed optimization models. Simulation studies will be applied to test and demonstrate the developed concepts and algorithms for integrated (re)planning. This PhD research will use a mixture of techniques from logistics, operations research, multiple-criteria decision making and simulation.

You will work in the Digital Rail Traffic Lab (DRTLab) and the Smart Public Transport Lab (SPTL) within the Department of Transport and Planning (T&P) at Delft University of Technology. You will be supervised by and Dr. Niels van Oort, in close cooperation with Netherlands Railways. T&P is part of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at TU Delft. In the past 30 years, the department has grown into a world-leading centre for transport science and engineering, providing top-level education and world-class scientific research. The Department is organized in collaborative research labs, including the DRTLab and SPTL. The DRTLab develops innovative concepts, models and methods for resilient railway transport systems. SPTL develops new solutions and methods for public transport planning, operations and management. You will also work one day per week at the Department Digitalization of Operations of Netherlands Railways.

Job requirements

We are looking for a PhD candidate with strong mathematical skills and passion for railways.

• An MSc degree in Transport, Operations Research, Logistics, or related fields.
• Demonstrable competence in mathematical modelling (including but not limited to optimization and data-driven decision making).
• Good programming and scientific writing skills, with the willingness to develop them further.
• Enthusiasm for scientific research in close cooperation with practice.
• Passion for passenger railway transport is a plus.
• Good communication skills in English, both written and oral.
• Mastering the Dutch language is an advantage, but not necessary.

Doing a PhD at TU Delft requires English proficiency at a certain level to ensure that you are able to communicate and interact well, participate in English-taught Doctoral Education courses, and write scientific articles and a final PhD thesis. For more details, please check the Graduate Schools Admission Requirements.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences

The Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences (CEG) is committed to outstanding international research and education in the field of civil engineering, applied earth sciences, traffic and transport, water technology, and delta technology. Our research feeds into our educational programmes and covers societal challenges such as climate change, energy transition, resource availability, urbanisation and clean water. Our research projects are conducted in close cooperation with a wide range of research institutions. CEG is convinced of the importance of open science and supports its scientists in integrating open science in their research practice. The Faculty of CEG comprises 28 research groups in the following seven departments: Materials Mechanics Management & Design, Engineering Structures, Geoscience and Engineering, Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Transport & Planning, Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management.

Conditions of employment

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1,5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2,5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities , increasing from Promovendus gross per month, from the first year to the fourth year based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.

As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

Will you need to relocate to the Netherlands for this job? TU Delft is committed to make your move as smooth as possible! The HR unit, Coming to Delft Service , offers information on their website to help you prepare your relocation. In addition, Coming to Delft Service organises events to help you settle in the Netherlands, and expand your (social) network in Delft. A Dual Career Programme is available, to support your accompanying partner with their job search in the Netherlands.

Additional information

For more information about this vacancy, please contact , e-mail