Zone-Oriented Timetable as a Network Tool in Suburban Railway

This paper is focused on preserving the attractivity and network effect of public transport when its boundary conditions are changed. In some cases, it requires alternative solutions and operational concepts to not lose the timetable attractivity and systematic transfer connections. In suburban transport, one such alternative operational concept can be the implementation of a so-called zone-oriented timetable. In this paper, there is initially introduced the zone-oriented timetable. It is followed by a description of the method for the timetable attractivity assessment and by a description of timetables 2021/22 and 2022/23 between Prague and Benešov u Prahy. Then an alternative operational concept based on the integrated periodic timetable (IPT), and the zone-oriented timetable is proposed, which ensures the network effect preservation. Finally, these operational concepts are assessed from the passenger
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s viewpoint and compared to the current timetable.