Collective choice of the optimal railway route option

Abstract

The difficulty of choosing the optimal route for a railway line is related to a number of factors. Decision-making under many criteria makes it possible to take into account the economic, environmental and social aspects of the construction of a new railway line according to one of the projected route options. Collective decision-making involves combining the knowledge and experience of different people to find solutions to complex tasks. In the team, different opinions and views on the problem help to take into account all the necessary information and come to the most optimal conclusion. To analyze the result obtained, it is important to see the rationale for each expert's preferences. The paper considers three models of collective decision-making: the Condorcet model, the Board model and the linear multi-criteria model. The Condorcet model is relatively easy to understand and apply, which makes it attractive for collective selection. However, when using this model, situations may arise when a decision cannot be made due to the occurrence of non-transitivity of preferences on a set of alternatives. In this case, one should use the generalized Board rule. In tasks where a multi-criteria approach is important, it is necessary to apply a linear multi-criteria model that allows to evaluate many criteria simultaneously, taking into account their weightiness. The article provides an example of the use of the considered models in the collective selection of the optimal route of a railway line.