Thomas Herrmann Traffic Consultant, R+R Burger und Partner AG, Baden

Methods and models for decision support, benchmark evaluation, process flow optimization, research analyses and studies

"For me, the fascination of mathematics lies in the problem-solving process. Real-world issues have to be transformed into mathematical language, which is then used to analyse them. Without understanding the modelling methods, solution approaches and algorithms applied to the problem, results cannot be interpreted correctly and thus cannot be transformed back into the real-world context. Therefore I attended lectures on topics in Applied Mathematics, mainly in the domain of Operations Research and Theoretical Computer Science. In addition, as Statistics provides important tools for presenting results I also chose some Statistics lectures.
During my Ph.D. I took part in a collaborative project established between the Institute for Operations Research (IFOR) at the ETH and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) to analyse the capacity of railway networks and the stability of timetables. Thanks to mathematical and computer science methods, it was possible to gain deeper insights into the processes of capacity optimization of an existing railway network or stability improvements of dense timetables. The complexity of these railway problems necessitated the development of specific solution approaches, which were considerably supported by mathematics. While working on the project I also gained an understanding of specific railway-related issues and learned much about railway technology.
Economic and financial aspects played a minor role during my time at the ETH, but today there is an increased focus on costs and benefits. Today I use mathematics in an interdisciplinary environment with traffic engineers and economists. Mathematical tools and analytical thinking processes are crucial for dealing with the challenges which crop up in my daily work."