Abstract: The line planning problem is one of the fundamental elements in strategic planning of public rail transport.It consists in finding lines and corresponding frequencies in transport network such that a given travel demand can be satisfied.So far,most of the models in the literature aim tominimize the costs or to maximize the number of direct travelers.In this paper we present a new approach maximizing the operator's profit,while ensuring the nature of its public services.This new MIP (mixed integer problem) model takes into account of the operating cost,the number of direct travelers,and the total number of transported travelers.Numerical results of randomly generated data are presented.

Key words: rail passenger transport network, line planning, optimization model, MIP