IF articles

Summary - The paper shows the development of a method to quantify the workload of Control Room Train Dispatchers (DCO), in order to ensure fair allocation of activities based on homogeneous organizational criteria.
The proposed method, based on multicriteria analysis, takes into account all the aspects that affect the DCO work-load and also the impact of each of them. It allows both to compare the workload of different DCO workstations and to establish a work shift differentiation within the same DCO workstation.
The method was applied to the Bologna Circulation Coordination Center (CCC), and the results are aligned to the empirical ones that have determined the staff needs currently adopted, confirming its effectiveness. The method is therefore a useful tool to evaluate, in a standard way, all the workstations of the CCC in order to ensure a homogeneous distribution of workloads.