Knowledge base
Planning stages and the live operational level
Railway planning happens at several levels. DAS belongs to the live operational level, so it depends on upstream planning but solves a different problem.
Published: February 21, 2026
TopicsPlanning stagesOnline operationalRailway optimisationGoA1GoA2
The four planning levels
- Strategic planning sets long-term direction such as capacity, fleet, and network choices.
- Tactical planning covers timetable design and medium-term resource planning.
- Offline operational planning gets close to execution, but still before the live trip.
- Online operational control deals with the real train, the real timetable, and the real disruption in front of you.
Where DAS fits
- DAS does not replace the earlier planning layers.
- It answers a live question: what advice is useful to the driver now, on this train, under these conditions?
- That is why DAS sits in the online operational layer even when it uses data created earlier.
Why this matters
- Good live advice depends on timetable quality, route data, train data, and clear operating rules.
- Weak upstream planning still shows up in the cab.
- The better the planning and data around the train, the better the advice can be.
Limits
- DAS cannot fix every upstream problem.
- If timing data, route data, or train data is weak, the advice will also be weak.
- That is why live optimisation still depends on good planning and disciplined operations around it.
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